For the past year and a half I’ve been building client ideas. A few months ago I finally formed a new LLC for this activity called REACTUALIZE. Matt Kent, RadRails and Pressflip co-founder, joined the operation in June.
Today we finally launched a basic website at reactualize.com.
In case you weren’t aware: Philadelphia now has an MLS team called the Union. Their very first game is today, March 25th.
I played soccer forever and continue to be a huge fan. 2010 is going to be huge: a new hometown MLS team and the World Cup in June.
Anyway, I am now blogging for a brand new site devoted to the Philadelphia Union called the Brotherly Game over on the SBNation network. Come join or simply observe and judge.
At the end of May 2009 I got a call while walking through staged rooms at IKEA. The offer: turn Howard Dean’s upcoming book on healthcare reform into an iPhone application. I thought it was an interesting opportunity so I took it.
The desired project timeline was short. Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform was scheduled for ebook release on June 5th, 2009 and print release on July 3rd, 2009. At the time App Store review times were 8-10 days based on my conversations with other iPhone developers. I suggested we budget 2 weeks into the schedule for the review process. The goal was to submit the iPhone application during the second week of June and ensure its availability in the iTunes app store by the print release date.
The requirements of this application were basic to start: take the book and turn it into an iPhone app that people can purchase through the App Store. The implicit tasks behind that statement were:
I suggested that we take advantage of the fact that this is an iPhone application and can do a lot more than just be a book. Political books are designed to get people to take action. My thought was to enable readers to take action within the app in 3 ways:
In addition to the Actions requirement, the client wanted to include video of Dr. Dean within the application. One video would play once the first time the app was run and introduce the reader to the book. Another would be an extended 4-5 minute clip of Dr. Dean talking about healthcare reform.
Development commenced on May 26th and the app was submitted to Apple on June 10th, 2009. I had built the app in less than 2 weeks and delivered it on time. I was relieved but worried about the arbitrary and slow App Review process.
A week after the app submission the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3.0 OS software were released. The anticipation in the developer community was high and many existing developers were submitting updated applications to take advantage of the 3.0 release of iPhone OS and related press. I only have empirical facts to go on but here is my take of what happened in late June: the new and significant OS upgrade elicited a flood of applications submitted for review and the Dean app was submitted too late to avoid the tidal wave.
The worst thing about waiting for an app to be reviewed is that there is no real communication from Apple. One week went by and upon emailing I received this from Apple:
Your application, Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform 1.0, is requiring unexpected additional time for review. We apologize for the delay, and will update you with further status as soon as we are able.
I emailed them several more times. On July 10th I received this email from Apple:
Thank you for the emails. We apologize for the delay. Your application is still in review but is requiring unexpected additional time. You will be updated with further status as soon as we are able.
On July 18th, 2009 Apple contacted me again:
We encountered a file corruption issue with your app. Please re-upload your binary to iTunes Connect so we may continue with the review process. We apologize for any inconvenience. Reply to the email once the binary has been uploaded, and we will expedite your review.
It had taken Apple 5 1/2 weeks to give me a real piece of feedback and that feedback was something that software could have solved or prevented. The binary I submitted was fine and tested when I sent it in. The iTunes Connect interface is very strict about uploads and appears to verify file contents. I resubmitted the application binary within an hour.
On July 22nd, I got some feedback on that newly updated binary:
Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform, cannot be posted to the App Store at this time because it does not adhere to the iPhone Human Interface Guidelines as outlined in the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement section 3.3.5.
When the device is not connected to a network and a user attempts to search for a representative in a different region, Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform does not load its contents and stays blank. This behavior might lead to user confusion. It would be appropriate to display either a notification or an alert stating that internet connectivity is required.
I wasn’t aware of this absolute requirement nor did I personally think it should halt application approval. The issue brought up by the app review team only affected one part of the Actions section of the app. Yes, having a notification would be the better way to go but the app was designed in such a way that there wasn’t much confusion when no data could be loaded. I was annoyed by this but quickly resubmitted a new and fixed binary with network connection dialogs.
I didn’t hear from Apple for 2 weeks. On August 6th I finally heard back:
Thank you for your correspondence. Your application Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform is still under review. While there is no additional information to share at this time, we wanted you to know it is still in process. We apologize for the delay, and will update you with further status as soon as we are able.
By this point my nerves were shot with this whole experience. There is nothing more frustrating than having a client who is understandably upset with a project situation that you are powerless to change.
On August 13th, 2009, a full 64 days later, the Application was finally Ready for Sale on iTunes.
Who knows why it took another 3 weeks from the last submission to get approval. This process was clearly broken.
Right after our approval Apple began to make some changes to its review process and offer up more information on how long things should take. In my recent iPhone development work the turnaround time has consistently been what they claimed: 14 days on average.
Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform is available on iTunes for $4.99
