Customer and developer both get screwed. The customer gets screwed because even if they keep a rejected software app on their iPhone, it will never be properly updated and will eventually obsolete itself. The developer get screwed because refunds come out of their own pockets and not Apple’s. This despite the fact that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the app, and regardless that it comes after many months of coding and testing, and finally getting the application approved from a senior-level Apple executive.

Apple claims they don’t want duplicate functionality (really?) because it might confuse the end-user (really?) Let’s hope they don’t attempt this tactic on their personal computers, else you’ll never be able to use an app that might compete with (or in Apple speak: be confused with) an established Apple application. God knows having access to multiple word-processor apps might confuse the hell out of you.

What this is really all about is control; Apple’s and not yours. It is about limiting your options, and stifling innovation; all for the sake of the almighty buck. I think Apple is confused if they don’t understand that their customers (and the FCC) know EXACTLY what is happening here. It won’t be tolerated, nor will this issue go away until Apple fixes it.

TechCrunch wrote an excellent piece that far more eloquently than could I repudiates most of the complete drivel in Apple’s response to the FCC. – It is required reading. – The Truth: What’s Really Going On With Apple, Google, AT&T And The FCC – http://shar.es/T95M