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I've created an app, that is self-explanatory. What is the etiquette in the iPhone world: do I still need to have an About button that explains what the app does, website, email, all that? Or is that unnecessary?
I wouldn't consider it necessary, but then again I would get a second opinion about your app being self-explanatory; you wrote it after all :) Seriously, I've found a lot of "obvious" UI and behavior I've written over the years to be not so, and it's helped to have opinions from others (especially those who don't use computers for day-to-day work) to bring more clarity.
But from an etiquette standpoint, I'd say no: in fact if your app truly is self-explanatory it'll just get in the way of what your app does, which is what consumers are after.
I think that you almost always need one, especially in a paid application. You want it to be as easy as possible for your users to get in contact with you for support (no need to make an upset user angrier by making them search for your contact info), because happy users leave good reviews, and support requests often help you to figure out what needs work in your app. Additionally, if you release a free app but you also have some paid apps for sale, I think the free apps need an about screen that will send your users to your page on the App Store; after all, you might as well get some free, non-invasive promotion when giving away something.
The only time you probably don't want to include an about screen is when you don't want to hear from users. If you're giving away a free app, and you don't want to deal with people having problems with it, then don't even bother with an about box. Or if you're Apple, since about boxes in their apps would be redundant.
I don't entirely agree with zoul here. I think that every app should include information about how to contact the developer and/or get support if it's needed. Yes, you can put this information in the App Store listing, but that makes it more difficult for your customer. I'd say yes, add the About view.
The etiquette in the iPhone world is to design sane applications. If your application does not need an About screen, don’t do it. Those who want support can always check out your application description in the App Store.
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I am developing an app for a company. The company aims at introducing models from foreign to domestic and the company wants to display all the models it owns on ipad so that some other companys who may be interested in can browse these models.
But when I read the "App Store Review Guidelines", I am not sure whether this kind of app could be accepted:
2.12 Apps that are not very useful, are simply web sites bundled as apps, or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be rejected.
I am afraid that this kind of app which is not for entertainment nor for normal customer will not be accepted. Can someone can give me some advice?
If the app if for a legit model agency I don't think there would be any problems being accepted to the AppStore.
To me however every red flag in the book is up given your short description here - I expect that the Apple reviewers will have the same knee-jerk reaction to what sound like a dicey operation.
You could make an HTML 5 based web-app instead targeted at iPhone and iPad. Working with an web-app you don't have to deal with the Apple review process.
Make sure that your client doesn't inadvertantly drag you in to any legal grey areas.
As a rule of thumb if you're making an application over a web app for iOS bets are that you aren't literally just adding the website wrapped up into the app. The guideline interpreted by me means that you should beware making an iOS app for something a web app or an iOS ready site would've sufficed doing. When you say you'd let companies browse through products it makes it sound like the user will have the ability to interact with products in an iOS native way which is why us developers make apps. I'm not sure where Apple was going with the entertainment value part though but I'm sure that doesn't apply to business apps anyways.
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I need to do a market research on specific type of apps. so is there a way for me to know the download count of the app / any app.
Is there a way to find the number of downloads for a particular app in the iTunes App Store.
There is no way to know unless the particular company reveals the info. The best you can do is find a few companies that are sharing and then extrapolate based on app ranking (which is available publicly). The best you'll get is a ball park estimate.
Updated answer now that xyo.net has been bought and shut down.
appannie.com and similarweb.com are the best options now. Thanks #rinogo for the original suggestion!
Outdated answer:
Site is still buggy, but this is by far the best that I've found. Not sure if it's accurate, but at least they give you numbers that you can guess off of! They have numbers for Android, iOS (iPhone and iPad) and even Windows!
xyo.net
found a paper at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1924044 that suggests a formula to calculate the downloads:
d_iPad=13,516*rank^(-0.903)
d_iPhone=52,958*rank^(-0.944)
I think developers can do this for their own apps via iTunes Connect but this doesn't help you if you are looking for stats on other peoples apps.
148Apps also have some aggregate AppStore metrics on their web site that could be useful to you but, again, doesn't really give a low-level breakdown of numbers.
You could also scrape some stats from the RSS feeds generated by the iTunes Store RSS Generator but, again, this just gets currently popular apps rather than actual download numbers.
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Working for a digital agency, you get a lot of interesting requests! :)
I have a client who has asked a rather strange question:
Is it possible to submit the same app to the App Store under multiple, different accounts/identities?
So if you search for Company A in the App Store, you would get this app as a result, and if you also searched for Company B, you would also get this app as a result.
Thanks!
Read the AppStore Review Guidelines Apple recently published.
2.20 Developers "spamming" the App Store with many versions of similar apps will be removed from the iOS Developer Program
Additionally, I think it'd be wise to advise your client against such a move, as it will only cause fragmentation for the app. Apps have keywords, so perhaps you should focus there to increase search results. I think you'd run into some issues submitting the same app to the store under different developer accounts--not to mention that you have to have individual developer accounts to even attempt such submissions. It'd really be a headache.
Technically, yes. At least if you're using different App-IDs and sign it with the distribution certificate for the account you'd like to upload it under.
I do not know however if Apple checks for 100% identical code / apps while reviewing apps - if not, it would propably work, if no, propably not :)
Even if multiple developers could get the same app approved, they would still have to change the app ID and the app name, so the search results would not show the same app, but multiple similar apps, all with different reviews and ratings, the aggregate of which would all be far lower in the popularity rankings.
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I've been working on a small iPhone app that displays web content using the devices GPS context. I am hoping to list this application in the AppStore for free.
If I list the application under my name, does this create any considerable liability considerations?
Thanks in advance,
Ben
This is one of those questions that really belongs on a forum for IP lawyers. I'm not a lawyer, so this is somewhat speculative and should not be taken as legal advice.
A good rule of thumb is that anything you put in the public domain can open you up to legal liability. Whether you put your name on an application or not is irrelevant to whether or not you can be sued.
The open source people often include some boilerplate that amounts to "No express or implied warranty on this application, not even a promise that it will work and not brick your phone." How effective this boilerplate is would need a lawyer's perspective.
You appear to be in the USA, so the answer is "of course it does". And listing it in some other way also does. Anything you do, anywhere, at any time, that affects anyone in any way might well be taken as grounds for a lawsuit. If you want specific legal advice you should be talking to a lawyer.
IANAL, either. But if you give something away for free, something earnestly intended to help its users - and if you explain what it is, and whatever risks you're aware of - I don't think you have much to worry about. Certainly, you shouldn't. I say, do your best to make it good, safe, and all that, and set it free.
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I’m almost ready to offer an IPhone application on the Apple App. Store and make my millions. ;)
For those of you that have gone before, have you formed a business (LLC or proprietorship) to keep things legal?
In the end, it really depends on your plans for your app development. If you're intending to make this a "real" business you'd absolutely want to incorporate for the legal protection and tax advantages. If this is just a hobby/something you're doing in your spare time then I wouldn't bother.
We've used LegalZoom a couple of times to incorporate; plan to spend <= $2K or so to get it done from soup-to-nuts.
I would say that depends largely on the nature of your application. If your app deals with personal information or in some way could damage other data or information on the phone itself, you might want to make sure you're covered liability wise.
If it's a game or something that won't (shouldn't) affect that type of thing, then you might be just fine going it alone.
I used my name. At the time I signed up, I was hearing horror stories about how long it was taking companies to be approved, while approval for individuals was flying through. Perhaps that's changed.
Don't assume that incorporating will protect you from liability. See here