JamSoft

I’m not normally one to cross post, but this sorta fits the genre of this blog, and I thought it was important enough to post it to my personal blog too.

There are screams echoing over the interwebs that Apple is mass-rejecting applications for the iPhone Developer Program.

However, this is a classic case of people overreacting or just being plain stupid. The e-mail people have receive goes a little something like this:

“Thank you for expressing interest in the iPhone Developer Program. We have received your enrollment request. As this time, the iPhone Developer Program is available to a limited number of developers and we plan to expand during the beta period. We will contact you again regarding your enrollment status at the appropriate time.”

Now read that and explain to me why people are thinking this is an outright rejection… There are multiple parts of this text that indicate otherwise:

1. “We have received your enrollment request.” - Notice how they say that, and not “We have rejected your enrollment request.”
2. “At this time, the iPhone Developer Program is available to a limited number of developers and we plan to expand during the beta period.” - Remembering that the iPhone SDK and the Developer Program are still in beta stage, it should be obvious that not all applications will be accepted immediately. While the iPhone SDK is available in beta form to all those who sign up for, or already have a free Apple Developer Connection account, that doesn’t mean that the program is equally as open. Apple have been inundated with enrollment requests, and the letter clearly states that at this moment in time, they’re only accepting a small amount of developers, with intentions to increase the numbers throughout the beta period.
3. “We will contact you again regarding your enrollment status at the appropriate time.” - Notice again how they do not say they are rejecting the request, but rather the opposite. They’re telling you that they will have another look at the request when they decide to open the developer program a little wider.

I also applied for the iPhone Developer Program, and the response I received this morning was a little bit more of a let down than those who received the one above. The response I got was:

“Thank you for expressing interest in the iPhone Developer Program. We have received your enrollment request. At this time, the iPhone Developer Program is only available in the US and will expand to other countries during the beta period. We will contact you again regarding your enrollment status at the appropriate time.”

My first response wasn’t to cry out that Apple had rejected me! In fact, it was pretty much just a “Humph, looks like I’m going to have to wait”.

So to all those whiners that think they’ve been rejected, suck it up. At least when the program opens up a little, you’ll probably get in there before Apple expand it outside of the US.