As if jumping through hoops were not enough, thanks to Apple’s NDA, all these developers are working in localized vacuums. In development, the community is the single greatest asset. Being able to rely on the wisdom, insight, and forethought of others is a gift of incomparable value. As the few readers of my blog may be aware, I’ve had to learn both Django and Python from the ground up over the course of the last few months, and I shudder to think what that would have been like without a community to lean on.

It’s the final steps in Michael’s process that really got me, though. Apple rejected his app at one point due to a bug. If not for the nothing-short-of-insane NDA, that bug might not have been introduced. Michael may have been able to benefit from the experience of other iPhone developers at many stages in this process, resulting in, if nothing else, at least not wasting Apple’s time reviewing iterations of the app that were not yet viable. Each of the three times (!) that Apple reviewed Michael’s app, they could have been reviewing other apps waiting in the long line to gain placement in the App Store. For Apple’s own benefit, they should reign in that NDA, just so they won’t have to answer the same questions 100 times over or review the same apps scores of times as developers try to learn the ropes.

I’ve thought about hobbying around with iPhone app development, but frankly horror stories like this one (which actually and sadly is not really a horror story) scare me. But the answer probably isn’t going to come from developers and certainly not would-be developers. I think the only people Apple will listen to is their customers, the users of iPhones. This effects consumers as much as the developers, because it means slower and infrequent updates to the apps they use and many times paid for. It also means waiting for apps they need or want just as anxiously as the developers wait for them to be released. It means many good services may not take the time or effort to make an iPhone app, and that one is probably the most devastating of them all.

Seriously, Apple. What the hell?

Thinking deeper on the issue, I remembered that I occasionally updated apps on my iPhone, while other times I would update the apps through iTunes. Thus, I theorized that the problem was most likely a sync conflict. We know that application syncing is two-way. So if both the iPhone and iTunes are saying that they have an updated version, it’s possible that that could be the source of the error.

So, I tested my theory out. First, I went through my iPhone and removed all the applications listed in the error message. For those that don’t know, you can remove an app on your iPhone by touch-holding any app for a couple of seconds. This makes all the application icons start to dance about and little X’s appear on the top left corner of all non-native iPhone apps. Tap the little X icon to remove the app.

Next, I went into iTunes and to the Applications list under Library. I removed the same apps here by selecting each at a time and hitting the delete key on the keyboard. You can also delete by ctrl-clicking or right-clicking on the App and choosing “Delete” from the menu.

Then, I went back through the App Store in iTunes and re-downloaded the applications I just removed. Clicking the “Buy” button on already purchased apps worried me at first, but this support article from Apple said that it wouldn’t recharge, so I went ahead. Sure enough, I got the message “You’ve already purchased this application.” So, no problems there. (FYI: Make sure you check your bank account over the next few days if you do this. While you shouldn’t get recharged, Apple does allow for the possibility of this happening. If you do get charged, contact Apple according the the support article mentioned above.)

Finally, I synced my iPhone again. I did get the error message again, but all the apps were installed anyways. On further syncs, I have not gotten the error message again, so this seems to have solved the issue. Your mileage may vary.