Steve Jobs Personally Calls Frustrated Developer After App Rejection

Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently made a personal call to iOS developer Ram Arumugam after his application was rejected for using a private API call.

Arumugam was using a private API call to dismiss the iPad's keyboard in his Economy application because of a bug in the SDK that left it on screen.

After initially having the app rejected, Arumugam filed an appeal with Apple's app-review board.


The appeal seemed to present a difficult problem. On one hand, the private APIs were used because of an SDK bug, on the other hand, approving the private APIs would have set a bad precedent. In the meanwhile, the app was no closer to being released. That is when I decided to email Steve Jobs.

"Ram, this is Steve": A couple of hours after I sent the email, I was at a noisy soccer (for kids) arena when I heard my iPhone ring. The caller-id, the caller saying "Ram, this is Steve" and that he was calling from Apple did suggest that it could really be Steve Jobs. He confirmed it when I asked.

Steve Jobs’ decision: Steve Jobs talked to me about my appeal and the "no private APIs" policy. I then asked him whether an exception could be made to the policy because the private APIs were necessitated by the SDK bug. He reiterated his point and I accepted it. I told him that I would replace the modal form sheet with alternative UI. Removing the form sheet (and therefore its bug) would eliminate the need for the private API.

Read More [via AppleInsider]