Subject: iPhone IRC Client Developer asks for your help - Your iTunes Connect Team just doesn't answer/help

Hi Steve,

I've been an iPhone app developer since the app store was born, I've sold 33.000 apps up until today and I've really seen many fails within the approval/update/review process over the months/almost years now.

But today I've nearly lost my last bit of faith in all this.

My app has been removed completely from sale weeks ago, after (it seemed) the distribution certificate has expired. Without any information, email or anything (even not until today). I wouldn't even have noticed, if some customers wouldn't have sent me an email that they can't reinstall the app.

First story here: http://www.roomsapp.mobi/blog/2010/07/roomspulled-from-store/

Since I had no chance but using the normal update/review process for getting it back into store, I went this way. For the sake of my customers I decided also to use the latest work for this update. I've worked my ass off for using this GREAT opportunity Apples has built with the so called "VOIP-mode" which lets an app at least stay connected or reconnect from time to time. This is THE feature all of the irc users out there have waited for. And in my tests this worked as a charm, since the whole app was only notified on real traffic and slept the rest of the time. And furthermore I've added some options, so the user could still decide that the app may for example just cut the connection after a selected time or EVEN let the system itself decide (using the 'finish-task-handler' without the voip-mode active).

To cut a long story short: I know it was my own fault, thinking that the review team may see the point why it is really needed, but they rejected it and asked to either add a real voip-feature or to remove the feature. Fine, so I did the later one...

Full background/second story here: http://www.roomsapp.mobi/blog/2010/07/a-design-question-·-multitasking-for-everyone-nope…-not-for-rooms/

PS: After I've sent in this update without the "voip-mode" a week ago, the review started directly again (without "waiting for review") but not much happened until Wednesday when I got a call from one of your employees asking me to remove the voip-feature, which obviously was the reason for the first reject and so had already been removed, right?! oO

He said fine, and went on with the "review"...

And finally today it all got worse... And thats why I know stand on the last step to give up.

After another whole week of "testing" just a little update now to get it back into the store at least, the app was approved and THEN removed from sale FOUR minutes later?! WTF? Again, no email, no hint, no idea why!

Last update: http://www.roomsapp.mobi/blog/2010/07/worst-review-evar/

After all this, the whole work of months/years (of one guy) to let this app stay quite stable in the top100 social networking apps in most countries and even top25 social networking in germany seems to be worthless. I can't imagine that after those weeks of not being in the store it will be positioned anywhere within the ranks.

So being a student in his last few weeks and actually writing my bachelor thesis, this ruins my whole monthly income for the next months which I really having not much time for just creating more apps or something...

So I BEG you, Steve, please at least tell someone to fix this whole bunch of so called "review process" instead of adding some new shiny UI to iTunes Connect :-(

I'm not the only dev out there having this trouble again and again from month to month :-/

It really needs some automated informations about WHY removing an app.

Or better: an automated email a week BEFORE something will happen (like any certificate expires).

And it really needs people who READ questions a developer sends in and will ANSWER those questions by mail or somehow.

Kind regards from Germany, sorry for some bad english and THX in advance for listening

Björn Teichmann