Windows Phone app Approval process - windows-phone-7

How strict/loose are Microsoft on approving Windows Phone apps submitted to the marketplace? I know there are tonnes of stories of developers having their iphone apps rejected on unreasonable grounds, and I know Google let you publish just about anything to the Android market...how are your experiences with WM platform?
Any comments are appreciated so thanks in advance

In my experience, nothing has been removed or rejected unexpectedly. As long as you follow the guidelines set out in the Application Certification Requirements, you should be fine. If an app is rejected, they give guidelines on how to reproduce the problem as well as explain what they expected the app to do, so it's a helpful response.

Read the docs on the Windows Phone site.
http://create.msdn.com/en-US/
I have found them to be VERY strict but only for things in their guidelines. Like anything follow them and you can't go wrong!

Related

WP7 beta testing with ads

I know this question isn't strictly programming related, however I have been unable to find an answer elsewhere and I'm sure the answer would benefit others.
I'm releasing a beta version of my WP7 game soon and in order to test all the functionality, I'd like to enable my pubcenter ads. Is this allowed and could you back this up with a link please?
Don't see why not, after all, you should test the app fully, with the ads!
The Windows Phone Beta Marketplace rules don't state anything about not being able to enable the pubcenter ads, so I guess it is allowed!
The real question should be if the beta marketplace place allows for pubcenter ads, but if pubcenter ads can be used in beta versions of apps...

AdMob freezing my Windows Phone application

I'm trying AdMob control for Windows Phone 7.
When my application starts, everything freezes until AdMob gets an ad.
Of course this is super annoying and a blocker bug for me. It seems it is doing a synchronous call using the UI thread. Is that the case?
Is there a way to avoid this?
UPDATE: Many months later and still the same problem. The funny thing is that if you try to complain in admob forum, your post is automatically deleted.
Shame on you, Google...
Kindly try http://wp7adrotator.codeplex.com/ if you want to go for ads from admob. Cause Admob provides a bad fill rate in Windows Phones and you might want to use other accounts too i.e. Microsoft Advertising SDK. Plus this solves all unresolved admob control issues too.
If you want to dig in more you might want to look at this blog post:
http://briankassay.com/blog/?p=169
You can also look for Nokia Ad Exchange too.
I hope this would help you. I used Adroator on my The Bro Code App on Windows Phone store from NerdCats
Why don't you use the native Microsoft Advertising SDK control? It works perfectly on Windows Phones.

Corporate apps for Windows Phone 7?

Apple has a corporate developer program with an elevated licensing cost, does Microsoft provide such a service for Windows Phone 7 developers?
This was asked at a recent MS event. You can assign (I think 5) phones to developer unlock them, then load application directly/bypass the marketplace.
Also, there were talks that they are hoping to soon allow beta/redemption codes to allow limited deployment of your application to non-unlocked phones, bypassing testing/marketplace acceptance.... But I do not know the status of this.
The best thing you can do at the moment is develop your application as normal and have a password/login screen at startup. This is a horrible approach, but it does work.
At the moment, the phone is very much targeted towards consumers.
I'm not sure what is provided in the Apple Enterprise version, but so far Microsoft only has the one registration process and no private app distribution: you can distribute apps on the market to everyone, or by giving your xap file to people with dev-unlocked phones, nothing in between.
The official line is NO, not yet.
Windows Phone 7 was created, first and foremost, for consumers, not enterprise customers.
That being said, LOTS of people are asking for this and Microsoft have said they will address this in the future. No timescales or details have yet been announced yet.
This will likely be related to the way that beta testing and home brew distribution are implemented. (Just my assumption.)
I don't know why I can't just comment on another answer in this thread, so my apologies for placing these remarks in an answer.
I think MS needs to really make this happen since it could be the saving grace for WP7. While I personally feel that my experience with WP7 and my Samsung Focus have been just as good or better than that with the second-gen iPod Touch that I have, there are a lot of people who aren't convinced. For better or worse, it really is the ecosystem that matters and MS has that within the corporate world.

will it be possible to publish a screensaver on the upcoming mac app store?

We are working on a stylish screensaver that we would like to publish on the upcoming mac app store. Do you think it will be possible to release a screensaver? We reviewed the draft guidelines but still not sure about it.
Thanks, Renaud
I actually tried writing Apple and ask about this. Since the screensaver has to install files (or rather a file - itself) to a system location, and since it is not really an app you want to open at will, I figured there was a good chance that it's outside the scope of the app store. The reply from apple was just a generic reference to http://developer.apple.com/support/mac/ and http://developer.apple.com/programs/register/. I wrote them back and said that I didn't want to fork out the $100 for the developer program unless I knew the guidelines for screen savers. Their reply was: "Please know that developers should be testing and developing their apps in line with the Mac Developer Program License Agreement and the App Store Review Guidelines.
Should you have any questions or concerns, we request that you review the Mac Developer Program License Agreement details with your own legal counsel. If you choose to enroll in the Mac Developer Program, you will have the ability to review the Mac Developer Program License Agreement before purchasing the program."
Thanks a lot Apple, I'll review your reply with my legal counsel.
ps. I know this doesn't really answer your question, but at least it tells you not to waste time trying to ask Apple about it. If you do find an answer, I'd be very interested to know about it.
No you can't. It requires the app to create files outside its area. There are plenty of restrictions in the App development guidelines which prohibit that.
I think you need authorisation for that which is also a recipe for rejection.
From June all apps has to be sandboxed which makes it even more impossible.

Where are Windows Phone 7 developers hanging out?

Interested in listening in on general chat by Windows Phone 7 developers. Anyone know of non-Microsoft forums? A Microsoft one would be okay unless the developers in there feel sort of obliged not to be critical.
I'm preparing to work on an infamous mobile app and whilst iPhone & Android are obviously on the list, I'm interested in whether WP7 offers anything enticing.
Thanks, Rob.
By far the biggest and most popular forums are the official Microsoft ones.
The next busiest (in my experience) is here on Stack Overflow.
If you're interested in what non-developers are saying about the platform have a look at the forums on Backstage.

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