Mediapost reports that WAC’s goal is to unite the apps market. A wholesale platform would create a single point of entry for developers, which is exactly what a company like Apple would contest. Apple did not attend the Mobile World Congress’ Conference last month.  The aim would be for smaller and larger developers to become essentially one large, united community for the mobile operating systems, carriers and others.

Creating the alliance would require a set of common open standards that would allow developers to create apps for different platforms.  Doing so would likely utilize standards that some mobile carriers have already started to adopt, such as JIL and Bondi. Those would eventually merge into one common standard.

Although the goal is to create a platform, the alliance also appears to be challenging Apple and its App Store.  Even before the alliance, major U.S. carriers such as AT&T and Verizon, as well as large tech companies such as Google and Microsoft, launched their own app stores.  Apple still holds a large advantage, which seems to be the ultimate driving force behind teaming up: to close the gap with Apple by luring developers away with  the opportunity to reach many more customers through a common, global platform.

The alliance’s goal is easier said than done.  Putting aside the difficult task of creating and integrating a common app platform and standard for different carriers, there is still the equally difficult task of developing mobile content, which only Apple has successfully done up to this point.

Thus, the market is there, but will these companies be able to put everything together to compete with Apple?  Apple could decide that the new standard violates its apps development standards. Therefore, another question must be asked: could the alliance lead to a marketing or legal showdown with Apple?

• None Found

The App Rejections site should help app developers better understand why certain apps were rejected, thereby avoiding those mistakes themselves. The site is set up as a simple blog and is therefore easy to read and follow.

Adam Martin, the site’s author, occasionally infuses his insights into the posts, providing some of his personal opinions and theories regarding Apple’s review process.

ReadWriteWeb reports that the blog’s purpose is to explain exactly why particular applications have been rejected. Posts examine information regarding API’s (Application Programming Interface) used or rules broken for example. The site is also useful because it reviews apps that had been previously rejected but later make it into Apple’s App Store. These posts are entitled “approved” or “overturned” (overturned refers when an app went through some sort of appeal process brought by its developer).

As the site catches on, perhaps Apple will, too, make it easier for developers to understand their review process. In the meantime, this site is a great utility for other developers to gain some insight that they would not ordinarily be able to obtain.

If a developer wishes to have his or her experience with Apple documented on App Rejections, Martin can be contacted through his company’s Twitter account, redglassesapps.

• None Found

As of now, iPhone users cannot take advantage of one of Google’s latest innovations, Google Voice. It takes advantage of the company’s online computing and extensive network. Customers can consolidate their home, office and cellphone numbers into one Google number. The account provides free calls in the United States, plus voice mail in audio and text formats.

Apple did not like what it saw and in July blocked Google Voice software from its iPhone app store.   The FCC took notice and began probing the dispute, as  Mark Milian of the Los Angeles Times reports:

“Apple has said it has reservations about the application’s interface and is still considering it for approval. AT&T said it was not involved in that decision.”

AT&T did not stay neutral for very long. The company complained to the FCC that Google was selectively blocking some calls on its U.S. voice service . AT&T claims that Google Voice refuses to connect calls to rural communities where local telephone companies charge more for a connection. The FCC is looking into these allegations as well.

Joelle Tessler of the Huffington Post chronicles the tiff, writing:

“Google Voice ‘has claimed for itself a significant advantage over providers offering competing services,’ AT&T said in a letter to the FCC last month. Those concerns were echoed in a letter sent to the FCC this week by 20 members of Congress who represent rural districts.”

AT&T’s complaint dovetails with an FCC vote Oct. 22 on a network neutrality proposal; it  would prohibit owners of broadband networks from setting selective speeds for traffic, writes Tessler.

“That proposal has pitted Google and other Internet companies that support net neutrality against the big phone and cable companies, including AT&T, that want to be free of restrictions on what they can do with their networks.”

Will the FCC sort out the differences or will the three companies head to court? The future of AT&T and Apple’s relationship with Google shows no signs of improving.  The market, not a judge, may decide the issue, though. If the Google Voice app is forever blocked on the iPhone, other carriers and phone makers could take advantage of Google’s game-changing application.

• None Found

GetJar has been around since 2004. It features close to 50,000 applications — such as Google Maps and the Opera browser — and works on all major platforms. The company is backed by Accel Partners and says it’s profitable. It has around two dozen employees.

Some stats:

• Registered developers: 292,215
• Registered beta-testers: 41,265
• Supported Devices: 1,541
• Total Game/Application Files: 48,821
• Files Uploaded Last Week (2009 Jul 6 – 2009 Jul 12): 584
• Downloads Last Week (2009 Jul 6 – 2009 Jul 12): 8,054,963

For the Get Jar developer blog, click here.

• None Found

• Constantly experiment with price points
• Getting featured is your top priority
• Choose the right time to launch your product
• Choosing the right category
• Searching optimization through branding

To read the article, click here.

• None Found