Bloggers Rage On the App Store

Since the opening of the App Store on July 11th, developers have had a long-standing feud with the App Store. The ambiguous terms of what is accepted into the App Store has many developers frustrated and annoyed with Apple.

This became a resurfacing issue today with Apples decision to reject a Podcaster App. The reason behind the rejection: "Since Podcaster assists in the distribution of podcasts, it duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes." This isn't sitting too well with the developer and fellow developers.

Since the debut of the App Store, I have been hoping for a Podcaster App to come along and now I know why I haven't seen one. Apple needs to clearly define the terms for what is accepted and what isn't. Why did the "I am Rich" application make it, but useful ones like the Podcaster get rejected? You're better than that, Apple.

Random Social Media Thoughts

A collection of my social media thoughts for the day:

- It is weird to think that we are engaged in the first election since YouTube's creation. It has been heavily utilized by most campaigns. Most video hits: probably Obama. Most YouTube comments: definitely Ron Paul. For a while it was almost impossible to look at any popular video without a Ron Paul supporter commenting on it.

- Facebook is going the way of MySpam...oops, I mean MySpace. Too many useless applications and now comes a complete revamp of the website along with a slew of spam. I see the temptation for Facebook to converge and become everything social media, but instead I wish they would follow the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid, as in we didn't really need all the 3rd party apps and all that junk).

- Another victim of spam - YouTube. I remember not too long ago when I would check the daily top videos on YouTube and find a collection of unique, creative, and often hilarious videos. Check the most viewed videos today and you will find about 50% of the titles aren't in English, a handful of videos are Japanese cartoons, and the rest are spam or ads for websites. Maybe 10 videos out of the top 100 are now worth watching.

- Pandora might get shut down soon. They are paying outrageous royalties and can't get out of the red. If they do get shut down by the RIAA, expect an uproar from the over 1 million daily users of Pandora.

- Apple still needs to get a better control of the App Store. Only a few applications are released every week and the ones that get publicized aren't that great. Btw, who gave the clearance for the I am Rich application?

- Something will replace MySpace as a music site soon. Currently, MySpace is repeatedly being pigeonholed as a site for 3 different types of people: musicians, spammers, and child predators. Whether it is true or not, it is repeated frequently enough to the point where people will believe it to be true. My prediction for MySpace's music predecessor? Modlife. I will give a review of the website later this week.

I am Rich

This is the title of a new iPhone app that is selling for $999.99 in the app store. Seriously. $1000 for an application. What does it do? Cure cancer? Feed the poor? Nope. Here you go:

"When run "I Am Rich" simply displays a red gem and accompanying glow, letting the world know that the owner has more money than sense - though some would argue that ownership of an iPhone already denotes that to some degree."

Read more about it here.