Sep 22, 2008 05:10 PM
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Apple's iPhone Mail app isn't bad, but for those of us looking to use advanced Gmail functions (like managing multiple accounts or starring items), an app named MailWrangler would fill in the gaps...that is, if Apple hadn't rejected the application from their iTunes store. Here is the message sent from Apple to the developer, six weeks after the program was submitted to iTunes:
… 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. …
Macworld points out that "user confusion" isn't an issue when one examines the endless faceless Sudoku applications that are available in the iTunes store, but it's a huge problem when such alleged confusion steps on the toes of an Apple application.
But from Apple's perspective, it sure would take the wind out of Jobs' next keynote if he were to announce that the iPhone was supporting a series of features already implemented by third parties. Maybe it would be more fair for Apple to simply restrict categories of applications from the iTunes store to begin with and not waste developers' time. [Macworld]
Send an email to Mark Wilson, the author of this post, at mark@gizmodo.com.
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