And what happened afterwards. . .

stevenf:

On Saturday night, we drove up to Seattle to attend a memorial service for my wife’s grandmother. Shortly after checking into the hotel, I checked the inbox on my Android phone and found myself staring at the words “Philip Schiller”.

Needless to say, I had a minor freakout. People have questioned my sanity to raise hackles about the iPhone while simultaneously depending indirectly on Apple for an income. Which way was this going to go? I tapped on it.

I haven’t sought Phil’s explicit permission to republish the letter, so I won’t do so here. But to summarize, he said: “we’re listening to your feedback”. Not all of my suggested solutions were viable, he said, but they were taking it all in as they continue to evolve the app store.

He went on to say that the rumors of widespread e-book app rejection I’d heard were false — that specifically one e-book app had been rejected because it facilitated iPhone-to-iPhone sharing of (potentially copyrighted) books. But that otherwise, there was no sweeping ban on e-book readers.

First, I breathed a sigh of relief that this was such a courteous, polite, and reassuring email. Second, I wondered where this left me in terms of my self-imposed boycott.

Technically, nothing specific has actually visibly changed in the last few days. I said I wouldn’t go back until I could see actual demonstrable progress being made. And a boycott that lasts all of a week and a half comes off as more of a light comedy than any sort of serious movement.

What I do have is a comment from Phil that Apple has read what I (and others) have written recently, and that they’re taking it very seriously. Realistically, what more could I hope to achieve from my puny blog posts and arm-flailing?

I laid out my case to the best of my ability, and had a Senior VP from Apple tell me “we hear you”. It seems like at this point, continuing my boycott doesn’t really achieve anything in the grand scheme of things except making my life a bit more miserable. As I tried to explain in my response to Phil, I don’t complain about the things I hate — I complain about the things I love.

So, what do I do now, dear readers? Stick pedantically to my guns? Or take this new information at face value?

If nothing else, I am very grateful that Phil actually took the time to contact me. As I’ve said repeatedly, communication will solve this problem — not silence. Let’s push that communication down from executives-to-bloggers to app-store-to-developers and I think we’ve really got a breakthrough.

stevenf:

[IMPORTANT NOTE: References to “I” in this post refer specifically to myself, and not Panic. Panic has lots of programmers who aren’t me, and no anti-iPhone policy.]

I’m furious with Apple and AT&T right now, with regard to the iPhone.

Let’s talk quickly about Google’s official client app for Google Voice. It’s not the only thing I’m mad about, but it was the final straw.

To recap: Not only was the app rejected, but Apple pulled several other third-party Google Voice apps that had already passed the approval process while still leaving those developers on the hook for refunds to customers with misplaced anger about the removal.

Was Apple behind the rejection? AT&T? Who cares?

Fact: AT&T sells Blackberries that can run an official Google Voice client. No problems there.

Fact: Apple continues to sell iPhone apps that permit you to send free SMS messages. No problems there either.

Fact: You can still do everything that the Google Voice app would have done by accessing the web interface through Safari, albeit slightly less conveniently. I doubt they’ll pull Safari from the iPhone, although that would be the logically consistent thing to do.

I haven’t heard a single explanation for the rejection of the Google Voice app that makes a shred of sense at all.

When the app store first opened, there were some questionable decisions, and like most everyone, I was willing to forgive Apple a few transgressions as they were navigating new, exciting (and rocky) territory. Historically, Apple has made bad decisions, but they’ve generally corrected them. (The $100 refunds for original launch-day iPhone purchasers after the price dropped come to mind.) The boat may turn slowly, but nothing before has ever suggested to me that Apple are actively malicious.

But after an entire year of continuous bad decisions that are hostile to developers and consumers alike, we’ve moved on from “working out the kinks” to good old-fashioned getting fucked.

My position is not that every app should be approved — it’s that rejected apps should be rejected for reasons that at the very least make consistent, logical sense, without garbage form-letter rejection notices that explain nothing, and with at least some sort of guidance available to the developer about how to fix the problem instead of meeting them with a brick wall.

People love to chalk up posts like this to “whiny iPhone developers”. Well, I’m not an iPhone developer. I don’t write iPhone software precisely because the app store process is so stacked against us. When I first complained about it, I got a lot of comments: “Well, if you don’t like the app store, don’t develop for it.” So, I don’t.

But forget developers. You, the consumer, are getting screwed too. You are missing out on some great software that’s available on other phones on the same network, without issue, for no apparent logical reason.

There’s been no indication that Apple want to do anything to resolve the problems with app store policies that have been laid bare a hundred times over. There’s no indication of anything, as a matter of fact. Nothing. After a year. It’s a black hole yawning back at us. How much has been written about this over the last year? What reason is there to believe anything’s going to change in another year if the policies (whatever they are, who knows) seem to be just getting worse over time?

I’ve reached a point where I can no longer just sit back and watch this. The iPhone ecosystem is toxic, and I can’t participate any more until it is fixed. As people have told me so many times: It’s Apple’s ballgame, and Apple gets to make the rules, and if I don’t like it, I can leave. So, I don’t like it, and I’m leaving.

Of course, there aren’t many places to go. It’s one billionaire’s playground or the other. After evaluating the available options, I’m doing three things until there’s a resolution:

1) Converting my iPhone SIM into a DataConnect SIM for use with a laptop. For now, at least, Apple can’t dictate which Mac applications I can run. And should the day come that they decide to try, I’m off the platform.

2) Switching to a Palm Pre for voice and light data usage. I looked at the Pre and the G1. The Pre is (very) slightly better at what I need. They are both lousy in comparison to the iPhone. And Sprint’s coverage sucks in my neighborhood. I’m going to completely hate using it. I am voluntarily going to make my own life a bit worse because I believe in certain principles. But I’m going to love not supporting a rotten app store. (Palm’s app store is still in a beta lock-down — they haven’t had a chance to screw it up yet. If they do, it’ll be time for Plan C.)

3) Not buying any future iPhone OS based devices, including the “tablet”, should it ever surface, until the issues with app store policy are demonstrably improved.

I realize these actions are utterly insignificant to Apple. I know I’m a tiny tadpole flapping his tail helplessly in anger at the ocean. But at least my conscience is clear. I hope change is coming. I’m really going to miss my iPhone terribly. I’m frustrated and disappointed at the whole situation.

Ouch Nothing!

Sorry Mr. Arrington, but Ouch nothing! Don’t play the victim here. You slashed first, by impling that Leo had been bought by Palm to offer up a rave review of the Pre. You did not politely point out that fact. And when an attempt was made to make this clear, you sarcasticlly down played the fact.

You are an F’n Troll, Mr, Arrington. F you and your Twitter minions.

http://bit.ly/dOz0Q