AppGratis Pulled From the App Store
Simon Dawlat (via Jeff Johnson):
Friday, April 5th was the day Apple decided to pull AppGratis out of the App Store, leaving our 12 million iOS users wondering where one of their favorite apps had gone, my 45 employees wondering if they’d still have a job next week, my partners and investors in shock, and myself with an absolutely crazy situation to deal with, thousands of miles away from our headquarters.
Despite Apple’s purchase of Chomp, searching the App Store seems worse than ever, so there’s clearly a role for apps like this. I’m no longer surprised when Apple pulls apps, even established ones. However, the process seems needlessly confusing and rude: last year an App Review team member had agreed that AppGratis was in compliance with the same rule it later told the Wall Street Journal that it violated.
It's frustrating that app approval can't be considered a certification of compliance, nor can you request a certificate of compliance.