App building and the promotion of company apps has become big business for those in the marketing profession. While Blackberry and the Android systems offer a selection of apps, both are dwarfed by the number of those in Apple’s app store.
This week Apple released its app submission guidelines, which is a must-read for anyone spending their mobile marketing budget on an iPhone or iPad app this year. You can read the full text of it here (h/t NJ.com) but I’ve included a few highlights that the direct marketing industry might appreciate.
First the funny ones:
We have over 250,000 apps in the App Store. We don’t need any more Fart apps. If your app doesn’t do something useful or provide some form of lasting entertainment, it may not be accepted.
If your App looks like it was cobbled together in a few days, or you’re trying to get your first practice App into the store to impress your friends, please brace yourself for rejection. We have lots of serious developers who don’t want their quality Apps to be surrounded by amateur hour.
Next, the useful ones:
Apps that are primarily marketing materials or advertisements will be rejected
Apps cannot use Push Notifications to send advertising, promotions, or direct marketing of any kind
Apps that do not notify and obtain user consent before collecting, transmitting, or using location data will be rejected
