Apple's Statement on the rejection of Hey App from Basecamp founders

Apple, writing to Basecamp Founders David Heinemeier-Hanson and Jason Fried:

Thank you for being an iOS app developer. We understand that Basecamp has developed a number of apps and many subsequent versions for the App Store for many years, and that the App Store has distributed millions of these apps to iOS users. These apps do not offer in-app purchase — and, consequently, have not contributed any revenue to the App Store over the last eight years. We are happy to continue to support you in your app business and offer you the solutions to provide your services for free — so long as you follow and respect the same App Store Review Guidelines and terms that all developers must follow.

That’s a hell of a statement. Read the full statement at TechCrunch. Apple facing antitrust investigations in both US and EU and just preparing and ramping up content for the WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference). Apple seems to forget that Developers are what makes their App Store interesting and relevant by submitting their great apps and thus generating hardware revenues.

Note this piece from Daring Fireball’s John Gruber The Fear from 2008

I believe that a closed, controlled App Store can work, but by definition that requires developers to place trust in Apple. The problem is that Apple is managing the App Store in certain untrustworthy ways. And I mean trust more in the sense of stability than honesty — like in the way you need to trust a ladder before you’ll climb it.

That trust hasn’t grown since then.