Months ago we submitted fruux to Apples’ Software Download Page, but yesterday we got the notice (on request) that they won’t publish fruux:

Hi,

fruux’s feature-set is too similar to Apple’s MobileMe (http://www.me.com).

Regards,

Apple Downloads

http://www.apple.com/downloads/

That kind of raises the question if it makes sense to put more work into our iPhone client. They even rejected our desktop app, so probably they will also reject our iPhone client. So allocating resources (time, money, sleepless nights, …) to our iPhone client is kind of a gamble if they reject it. Apple really has to fix this random rejection policy - especially because there are several sync applications both on the Apple Downloads Page and in the AppStore.

UPDATE 2008-12-17:

We just recieved another Email from Cupertino (we asked, why they rejected our listing, but listed several other sync applications):

Hi,

Those applications are restricted to syncing calendars (including Google calendars, which MobileMe does not do). fruux’s feature set has more parity with MobileMe in that it also syncs addresses and bookmarks.

Regards,

Apple Downloads
 http://www.apple.com/downloads/

It looks like this is “not entirely appropiate”.

• It’s wrong that those apps only sync iCal, some of them also sync contacts

Some random thoughts:

• fruux is all about social syncing (that kind of differenciates fruux from MobileMe!?!)
• Will Apple also ban Microsoft Messenger for similarities with iChat?
• Or Firefox for similarities with Safari?
• Should we continue working on our iPhone client?

Additionally we’d like to add some thoughts to an excellent write-up (AppStore, crappy ringtone apps, serious development, …) by Craig Hockenberry:

• Developing a product (including software) means investing (time, money, resources)
• Apples “rejection policy” is “not entirely” clear, sometimes they even reject apps for using private apis, which in fact don’t use private apis
• Developing a product which is undistributable (because it’s rejected from the AppStore) is like investing your (time/money/resources) at a roulette desk in a casino and betting on the wrong number. 
• There must be many great apps that are not even developed, because the developers can’t afford this rejection lottery!?

UPDATE 2008-12-18:
We just recieved another email from Cupertino, which sounds like good news.

Hi,

Once distinguishing features (such as Social Syncing) are implemented and out of beta in fruux, we can certainly take another look.

Regards,

Apple Downloads
http://www.apple.com/downloads/

The iPhone development gamble problem (see above) stays the same, but at least it is not entirely hopeless. We’ll still change our roadmap and focus on Mac development first before we continue working on our iPhone client.

Bookmarks, Contacts, Tasks, Calendars and Events in sync with fruux, but still looking for a solution for your files? Box.net and Dropbox might be worth a look. If you are looking for an iDisk replacement, you might see their services as a welcome addition to fruux.

• Box.net recently announced their iPhone application.
• Dropbox: Store, Sync and Share your files online, launched some weeks ago

(fruux is not affiliated with Box.net or Dropbox)

• Rechargeable wireless Mighty Mouse with a Scroll Ball that does not suck!!!
• Mail.app with builtin GPG and S/MIME support (also on iPhone)
• Ability to forward text messages on iPhone
• Different signatures for each mail account on iPhone
• Installer and/or Cydia in AppStore

Your wishes?

UPDATE:
Looks like someone had the same idea:
TechCrunch: Please Fix The iPhone: A To-Do List for Steve Jobs

During the last days our project got a lot of attention around the globe. We got reams of emails including lots of feature requests, bug reports and dozens of motivating comments (we used some of them as user comments on our main site).

Here is just a short excerpt of sites featuring fruux:

• http://www.tuaw.com/
• http://lifehacker.com/
• http://www.heise.de/
• http://thenextweb.org/
• http://www.macworld.fr/
• http://www.melablog.it/
• http://www.deepapple.com/
• … and a ton of other sites and blogs

We even found a podcast, mentioning fruux (@ 21:20), besides that many people twittered about fruux and we even heard unrelated people talking about fruux in the streets!

Of course we especially liked the content that was produced by our own users, like:

• http://www.bos89.nl/
• http://justbeyondthebridge.co.uk/
• http://www.moongift.jp/
• http://twitter.com/massive_dz/statuses/963471240

Thank you!

We are still working hard on our next bugfix release and hope to implement many of your feature requests very soon.

If you like our work and want to support the project, please file your bugs (if we don’t know about them, we can’t fix them)! Are there any fruux screencasts out there?

If you want to help even more, have a look at our -support us- site.

You might have noticed our roadmap, so you know that we have high aims with fruux - but we need your help to make it happen. Especially we’d like to know which features you want to see in our next version! Please add your comments below! Feature requests like “Please add Safari bookmark syncing” might be implemented earlier, than “Please add a Windows client and FileSyncing”.

We recently added a french localization to our software, which was donated by our user linathael over at HardMac.com/MacBidouille.com, then screwed up by our french inability and luckily corrected with the help of several comments from other french fruux users (Thank you, Emmanuel, Pierre, Virginie, Jean)! If you’d like to see fruux localized in your language and want to donate your free time, please let us know. We’ll provide you with the localizable strings.