Software

When Rising Card, a magic trick iPhone app, was rejected from the App Store, the creators were crushed; six months of hard work went right down the drain. But they got help from an unexpected source: Apple Exec Phil Schiller.

The unfair rejection of Rising Card (Apple felt the magic trick app would be confusing to customers, which is sort of the point) led to the story being covered on a magic blog and then TUAW, and became just one more example of Apple’s draconian and frequently ridiculous approval process. But Schiller, who is effectively the man at Apple right now (he’s been doing the keynotes for Steve Jobs), personally contacted the developers to apologise and promise special attention for the app. A few days later, the app was officially approved.

This is a good sign from Apple: They must be hearing the rising pitch of grumbling from users and tech writers who are upset with the App Store’s increasingly obvious faults. Of course, they’re probably also aware that they’re being sued for such weirdness as rejecting Google Voice, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. The lesson, it seems, is that the squeaky wheel gets individual attention from a high-ranking executive. Or something like that. [Techcrunch]