Review Delays Doom Promising iPhone App
12:02 am, March 19th, 2009, Lonnie Lazar
Newber, the FreedomVoice Systems app that sought to bring innovative calling functionality to the iPhone, has thrown in the towel after having had its app submission ignored by Apple for five months, according to an open letter (pdf) published Wednesday by FreedomVoice CEO, Eric Thomas.
We reported in January that Apple was dragging its feet on the Newber app, which would let users route every phone call made to them though a single number (their “Newber”) and, using GPS location awareness, let them take a call on any phone that happened to be nearby.
Thomas claims Newber followed Apple’s submission guidelines, yet never received any information from the company as to why the application was not reviewed. FreedomVoice records claim to show no one at Apple ever even tried the app.
A simple rejection, although not a welcome development, would have provided an opportunity to rework the app or scrap the project before wasting money on promotions, according to Thomas, but Apple left Newber in limbo.
After spending over $500K for R&D, architectural changes, patent applications, and marketing, the company finally saw no way forward.
“I don’t think you can do that to companies and expect others to continue to invest in your platform,” Thomas said.
[MacNN]
Posted by Lonnie Lazar in News | Comment on this article
You were supposed to read the agreement in the SDK before spending your development money
Sounds like a good app though
Take it to Android. You might get a buck fifty for your troubles…
Pmoes, on March 19th, 2009 at 2:58 am
This is appalling treatment from Apple. I agree that a port to another platform might be a way of realising the potential of the product.
Mark, on March 19th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Whoever is holding the key to this gate needs to be fired. This is simply unprofessional, and it really hurts the name of the company. Mr. Jobs needs to have a chat with that gatekeeper.
Ryan, on March 19th, 2009 at 9:21 pm