Apple Banishes App Store Name Squatters

[Michael Essany]

Earlier this year, I was among the MMi staff writers who began covering Apple's slow but gradually escalating attention on those who prey on domain names looking to financially capitalize on their possession in the future - domain name squatters, if you will.

In January, for example, Apple reclaimed - by legal force - a number of domain names that Apple felt crossed certain "boundaries" relating to intellectual property and copyrights. For instance, the domains "blueipod.com," "iphonecheap.com," "iphonetoys.com," and "ipodaccessories.info" were all wrangled away from the man who first purchased them and rewarded to Apple instead.

Today, the battle against both domain and app store name squatters rages on. Thanks to the changes divulged from the release of the development guidelines for the App Store, developers who reserve an app name without uploading a binary within a reasonable period of time will have their records swiftly deleted. What's a reasonable time frame you ask? According to Apple, that would be about 120 days. According to a report from our friends at Tech Crunch, after 90 days have passed, developers will be notified by Apple that the time to act is drawing near and that if there is no upload within 30 days, "the app name will then be available for another developer to use."

This move on the part of Apple is just one of many new tweaks and additions to longstanding policy. From finally sanctioning some significant third-party development tools to making the once completely non-transparent app approval process more visible to developers, the notoriously strict and hush-hush Apple has been surprisingly candid and - dare I say - chilled out in recent weeks.

Let's see if it lasts


Tech Crunch

[Daerid]

Maybe GV Mobile will keep it's name then.


Sent from my iPhone using ModMyi

[l0ngh0rns89]

I bet they'll start monitoring what people do on their phones next too

[elfboyz]

cool

[inyuke]

I bet they'll start monitoring what people do on their phones next too

Lmao wat you scared? Hahahhahahahaha

[crackencody]

whatever apple does, we'll always find a way around lol

[M4tt Dam0n]

whatever apple does, we'll always find a way around lol

did u even read the article?

[nycpolo76]

IPad supply has just met demand. So now this means Apple will have to reduce production of the current model to start production of a new model. I highly doubt That will happen.

[Tyronal]

i bet they'll start monitoring what people do on their phones next too

troll

[steve-z17]

Damn squatters! They're all a bunch of ninnies!

[Jahooba]

I didn't know you could reserve a name. I've always kind of wondered how that process went. Out of more than 250,000 apps, it must be pretty tough for developers to find an appropriate name sometimes, especially if they want their app to stand out.

I can't tell you how many times I shook my head at how uncreative some of the names are. It's getting to the point where we're seeing names like horrible message board handles, like "Map_Dude4364", or "Elfboyz".

[ronfin44]

troll

Irony and hypocrisy all in one post.

I'm glad Apple decided to do this. Reserving names that actual developers could use was a d-bag move. Need to make money? Get a job. The App Store's a mess as-is, so anyway to make it the slightest way better is a good start.

[politicalslug]

Finally some legal consequences for squatters. That's an F'd up way to make money.

[rayzah_blade]

IPad supply has just met demand. So now this means Apple will have to reduce production of the current model to start production of a new model. I highly doubt That will happen.

lol, wut?