Excerpts From the Diary of an [iTunes] App Store Reviewer | Hacker News Reader

Excerpts From the Diary of an [iTunes] App Store Reviewer

daringfireball.net

124 pointstumult24 comments

Daring Fireball is one of those sweet little gems on the internet. Six months of pain was turned into tears of laughter, hilarious post.

I stopped whining about the review process a few months ago once it was very clear how broken things are. I was loosing hair on stuff we just couldn't control, now we just accept it and set an expectation for our clients. Speaking of, there's certainly an opportunity to be found where issues like this cause problems. Big companies looking for a quick in to leverage the store will pay a premium for expertise and publishing knowledge. :)

I thought the part about the iPhone image in the app was hilarious, but the scary thing is that apple actually has a patent on a rectangle with a rectangle and two circles inside it...

"[T]he design of a portable and handheld digital electronic media device comprised of a rectangular casing displaying circular and rectangular shapes therein arranged in an aesthetically pleasing manner."

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/05/apple-trademark/

trademark != patent

Indeed, and there is further difference between "trade mark" and "trade dress" even though you can technically call the latter the former.

Who are the actual App Store reviewers, and why haven't they leaked anything? They must be reading all these complaints!

The reviewers are probably outsourced in India: they just follow a flowchart procedure using Apple's automatic testing tools, and have absolutely no idea that someone on the Internet cares so much about the results that they report back to Cupertino.

That's probably true, but I really prefer Fireball's BOFH-style take on the reviewer. (If you've never read BOFH, then take a few minutes here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/odds/bofh/)

Don't be so arrogant as to think that Indians don't follow what is going on around the Internet.

Well, avinashv, have you every actually met an Indian? No? I thought not.

I know people named Avi that are assuredly Indian. Goodjob being presumptuous.

I quoted the name to make clear that it was a joke, as I assumed that they were Indian. But I fail at "clear", and I'll take my lumps. :)

To be fair, Avi is a Jewish name, and I haven't met many Indian Jews... Assumptions, even when assuming something about someones assumption are bad :P

I've known more than one person named Avinash, and they were both Indian, which is why I assumed that "Avinash V" was an Indian name, and why I thought that was obviously funny.

There are plenty of Indian Jews. You guys need to, like, you know, get out, and stuff.

I never said there weren't Indian Jews. Just that I haven't met many of them. There's is a difference in the two statements.

And its not so much, "you know, getting out, and stuff", but rather just the demographics and location of the town where I go to college (ie: where I spend most of the year). Its more rural then suburb, so not a lot of people move to the area.

Then maybe avoid commenting if you, as you admit, don't know what you're talking about.

"Avi is a Jewish name, and I haven't met many Indian Jews."

there is a small Indian jew community. Over the years, most of them have emigrated to Israel but I think there are a few left.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_India

I'd like to repeat my comment in replying to @madair:

I never said there weren't Indian Jews. Just that I haven't met many of them. There's is a difference in the two statements.

"like to repeat my comment in replying to @madair:"

Oh I was just adding an interesting link, not disputing/challenging your positon.

If it makes you feel better, I assumed this was a joke!

Avinash is a very Indian name, yes. It's "Avi", a nickname I have, that gets mistaken for a Jewish name.

My point was that the reviewers might actually be regular people who are simply doing the job they're given, and who don't spend their free time reading blogs that obsess about the products they have to deal with at work.

(Next time I'll remember to use Iceland as the rhetorical outsourcing destination because it's less likely to accidentally offend anyone.)

I really hope, not.

What a riot! I love the ending about rejecting the app because the rectangle is not recognizable as an iphone. I'm reading this while at work and can hardly keep my laughter in!

Beautiful. Perfect. Almost Machievellian. I laughed, I snorted, I won't tell you what else.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com