fruux and the “Desktop AppStore”
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.
December 16th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Just try again (and again… and again) or put it (the iPhone app) on Cydia.
That would be a reason to jailbreak the iPhone.
December 16th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Definitely! Even though I could understand, if you guys would give up in the iPhone client – I believe that there is still a market for jailbroken iPhones. Think about it: People who don’t really think about, how syncing could be achieved the best way, don’t even consider different solutions that the Apple way.
All those other guys are closer to jailbreaking their own phones, than the no-nerd-guys
December 16th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Shame on Apple ! Of course, fruux looks like a free “mobile-me-like”, but that shoudn’t prevent Apple to welcome new competitors. The goal of the AppStore is to have more iPhone apps in general, not just to fill in the blanks (aka, softwares that are not likely to be developped by Apple, like games or social networking apps, etc.).
By the way, Funambol was accepted by Apple and does basically what fruux does (even if for now not all features are complete) so maybe there is still hope for fruux ! My advice : do not submit directly a full-featured iPhone client (limit the sync only for calendars for example) and hide the roadmap, so that Apple won’t even notice that fruux is a competitor
Keep all the features for a big 2.0 (oh, and a “Notes” syncing, that would totally own MobileMe ^_^)
Anyway, thanks for this great app ! I’m really looking forward to the webapp (I think that the webapp is more important than the iPhone client). Good luck !
December 16th, 2008 at 11:55 am
If they’d read your roadmap, they would know that fruux goes far beyond MobileMe. They can’t reject you with this argument once you have your social syncing features ready.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
[...] was planning on offering an iPhone version of its software too but is seriously reconsidering that now. If they can’t even get a link [...]
December 16th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Oh please go for another try
December 16th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
That’s just mean
December 16th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
[...] die Begründung hinterlässt den bekannten schalen Beigeschmack. Knapp und lakonisch kam die Ablehnung für das Fruux-Team: Hi, fruux’s feature-set is too similar to Apple’s MobileMe (http://www.me.com). Regards, [...]
December 16th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Someone should really drag Apple in front of an EU court to finally stop them abusing their market position!
December 16th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
I paid mobile.me for 1 year, I will not use the apple service any longer then the year paid. just for some syncing..
the apple server space is for nothing, since it is SOOOO SLOW!!
go for it!
December 17th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Don’t give up! But you need scale and think beyond Apple!
Following recomendations:
* iphone client via cydia – you don’t really need Apple for distribution of a supirior product. Let the market decide.Even better, let the market develop the client Open Source
* Develop a S60 client or better SyncML interface – massive differentation with all handsets
* Develop an Outlook Client – and you have the leading product in the market
* Go viral with other clients, spread fast and vigorously
If you need support planning an agressive expansion strategy a.s.o. send me a mail.
Cheers
M
December 18th, 2008 at 2:18 am
[...] reden ein wenig dummes Zeug über fruux und werden später dankenswerter Weise vom Chat [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Honestly, I think the best course right now would be to stop investing resources into the iPhone client. It’s very unlikely at this point that Apple will allow anything that competes with their paid services. Are there any numbers about how many people have jailbroken iPhones? A gut feeling tells me that only a minuscule part of purchasers have ever heard of this possibility and would have a) the inclination and b) the technical knowledge to do this.
But this was to be expected after the rejections from the previous months. I honestly don’t know what you expected…
December 18th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Apple would behave like this.
You’ll be lucky without your iPhone app IMO. I’d abandon it honestly.
December 19th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
….one word….CYDIA.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Today my trial for Mobile Me expired. Since I’m only interested in keeping my agenda up-to-date over my 3 macs and possibly a future iphone, i feel that the 99$ for mobile-me/year is overdone. Fruux does all i want really. Gr8 product, esp. for a beta, and it’s free!
@ Apple: I was never gonna pay 99$/year anyway: I don’t need an @me address, or your storage. I just want to sync. If Fruux makes that happen: Let it be my choice for syncing. By banning them from your store i’m better off with a touch-phone that runs andrioid, and you’ll sell an iPhone less. So Apple: Grow up and get over yourself.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Like I said, forget the client and take the ActiveSync (Exchange) Protocol Build into the iPhone. Push is even better then the manual start and sync via an App all the time…
January 12th, 2009 at 1:13 am
The social syncing feature sounds interesting.
January 14th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
You could go Ad-Hoc for now, or until they let you pass…
Their rules is stupid, even though I understand that they want to make money.
Ad-Hoc + Paypal donation (mandatory) would be a good alternative way to publish your software… Really like your service – it’s perfect! Good luck for now…
January 21st, 2009 at 7:31 am
I wouldn’t give up hope to quickly. It seems they’re letting other web browsers in the app store, maybe they’ve, slowly, seen the light.
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:32 pm
I prefer fruux to mobile me. I agree, I’m not going to subscribe to mobile me, but will continue to use fruux. As for the syncing, I say keep doing it.
As for the iPhone client, here’s where Apple gets tricky. If they decide (for whatever reason) they don’t like how your product is too similar to theirs and denies you access, it’s a bunch of wasted work on your part. It’s not fair and I’ll bet they’ll get a Microsoft-like anti-trust lawsuit on their hands. Whenever I get an iPhone and iPhone fruux is out, I’ll get it!
Thanks for a great product.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:33 am
[...] kommen. Hoffen wir, dass Apple den Entwicklern dabei keinen Strich durch die Rechnung macht (Ablehnung a la “Your service is too similar to MobileMe”, sowas gab’s ja schon öfter). [...]
February 15th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
[...] a quienes Apple rechazó incluirlos en la sección de descargas de su web por una simple razón: Competía directamente contra MobileMe. Fruux es una utilidad que podemos descargar tanto para el iPhone como para las Mac y permite [...]
February 18th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Have you considered using the Z-Push technology ?
It would allow virtually any ActiveSync capable device (mobile phones like the iPhone or even Mac/PCs) to sync contacts/calendars/tasks with fruux. It’s also a nice way to bypass Apple’s approval process because using ActiveSync would avoid the necessity to develop an iPhone app.
February 19th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
We already started some experiments with Z-Push – it’s interesting, but we’d still prefer a dedicated Apple OTA syncing protocol. Not sure if that will ever happen…
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:38 pm
I’m not sure Apple will “open” their dedicated OTA syncing protocol (the one they use for MobileMe) to third party developers. Therefore the ActiveSync is likely a better choice (even if it’s not made by Apple). It’s good to know that you are already experimeting with the Z-Push library ! Can’t wait to see in action if you release it one day ^^
Google recently enabled ActiveSync for Google Calendars and Google Contacts, it works pretty well except that the Address Book format in GMail is not the same than the one used in OS X (no picture, limited fields for emails, phones, etc.). That is where fruux could do the difference (since it’s made for Macs) !
March 25th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
I don’t want to sync GBs of photos or whatever MM likes to charge for, I primarily want my contacts and iCal events (with to-dos!) synced between Mac and iPhone. So why pay for MM, if fruux could probably offer these basic services for, let’s say, 20 € a year?
But if Apple doesn’t behave, I’ll be happy to do the jailbreak and order fruux wherever it happens to be available then.
April 9th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Why do you need an iPhone app? Can you not make it such that it is possible to configure fruux syncing on the iPhone/iPod Touch via an exchange server like Google contacts/calendars does? They do not require their own iPhone software, it uses the software already built in to the device.
September 10th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Stay Strong! I’m on a PC comp right now.
But when I get home, I’m trying your products. If it works as well as everyone says it does, you have done some pretty amazing stuff. Of course, apple doesn’t want to promote your product. You could easily replace a lot of people’s mobile me with a free product.
September 11th, 2009 at 6:20 am
I think that stating as a reason for rejection “because it competes with our software” is simply inacceptable.
I mean we the Apple customers have tons of applications on our Macs that totally compete with applications Apple is selling. So what?
What’s their point? They have successfully sold us their hardware, it’s a deal done, they should now let us use the applications on our devices that we want on them…