Facebook App Developer Calls for Elimination of App Approval Process
August 26th, 2009
Joe Hewitt, the developer responsible for the Facebook app, including the latest 3.0 version that is pending approval for release from Apple, made a blog post yesterday advocating the complete elimination of the current approval process from the App Store’s procedures.
Claiming that unapproved apps can’t do anything more malicious than a web app on an iPhone because of the degree to which they are sandboxed, Hewitt focuses on the quality of the reviews Apple does during the process:
“Apple does not have the means to perform thorough quality assurance on any app. This is up to the developer. We have our own product managers and quality assurance testers, and we are liable to our users and the courts if we do anything evil or stupid. Apple may catch a few shallow bugs in the review process, but let’s face it, the real things they are looking for are not bugs, but violations of the terms of service. This is all about lawyers, not quality, and it shows that the model of Apple’s justice system is guilty until proven innocent. They don’t trust us, and I resent that, because the vast majority of us are trustworthy.”
Hewitt goes on to describe that bugs can be found more quickly by users when an app goes live compared to the review Apple may do over the 2-week timeframe for approvals, and an developer can respond more quickly to address them the wait to approve app updates is eliminated.
Version 3.0 of the Facebook app promises an improved interface and multiple new features, which are listed on the Facebook for iPhone’s Notes page here.
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