Now, Apple Gives Developers Roadmap To App Approval

Apple rejected its Google Voice application

In an email to those in its iPhone developers program, Apple unveiled the App Store Resource Center which, it said, is "a single destination designed to make it easier for you to find details on everything you need to know about distributing your app on the App Store - from how to prepare for app submission to managing your app once it's been posted."

Among the resources in the App Store Resource Center are blueprints for how to "prepare an app for submission," for the "app store approval process," and for "managing apps on the app store."

The timing of the App Store Resource Center launch coincided with news that Google has had trouble getting one of its key apps, Google Voice, approved for the iPhone. But even though it is at odds with Apple, in statements to federal regulators, about its own lack of success with the iTunes App store, it's probably not the reason for Apple's action.

Dating back to last year, many developers have complained about what seemed to them like endless delays, and random rejections, in their effort to have apps approved for sale via iTunes and the iPhone. The new resource center for app approval appears aimed at quieting those complaints and making it easier for everybody.

Earlier in the day, reports surfaced that Google has told the Federal Communications Commission that Apple outright rejected Google Voice as an App Store offering for the iPhone -- as Google Voice provides several functions that overlap with features in the iPhone itself and from AT&T, which is the exclusive service provider for the iPhone.

Apple has denied that's the case, and has contended to the FCC that it is still reviewing Google's voice app.

The issue appears far from resolution.

Interestingly, among the pieces of information in the App Store Resource Center, Apple today states: "Based on the current volume of app submissions, 87 percent of applications are being approved within 14 days."