Apple’s Monopolistic Actions

Recently with the removal of Podcaster, I mentioned Apple’s practice of a monopoly in controlling a few key apps. To further prove my point, Apple has now rejected MailWrangler App from App Store. Despite the fact that Apple’s Mail app is a nice piece of app, it cannot utilize all the cool features in emails. With MailWrangler, it is possible to use those features, but Apple denied MailWrangler from being distributed. In their letter to the developer, Apple states “Your application duplicates the functionality of the built-in iPhone application Mail without providing sufficient differentiation or added functionality, which will lead to user confusion.”

Clearly, this is a load of garbage since so many apps have similar functionality. Ironically though, few third party apps have the same functionality as the Apple ones… In any case, Apple needs to clarify their approval guidelines. Developers would much rather have Apple restrict certain functions from being duplicated in apps than waste copious amounts of time on an app that will not be distributed.