Apple has made a new resource available to iPhone application developers called the App Store Resource Center intended to assist devs in steps such as app submission and managing applications once they are in the store. The move is no doubt a reaction to displeasure with the way the store is being run, particularly the submission and approval process. In an e-mail sent to registered iPhone developers announcing the service, Apple touts the new section as a place for questions and guidance. This sounds good on the surface—until you talk to the developers.

According to one developer who spoke to Ars on the condition of anonymity, the App Store Resource Center is merely "a collection of documents that were already out there, just condensed into one place." Additionally, Apple "didn't really fix anything that was broken" and has "done nothing as far as I'm concerned." The developer in question went as far as calling Apple's latest attempt at helping the developer community "totally useless."

A second developer we spoke to echoed those statements, agreeing that the resource seemed fairly useless. According to this dev, what the community really needs is "a simple, straightforward list of criteria. The list should be sectioned, and ideally provide example scenarios that they've actually rejected apps for, and what people fixed/change to get it re-approved thereafter." Giving an average time for review isn't what people want—they want a page that shows their applications and where they are in the process.

The consensus seems to be that this is nothing more then a lame stunt aimed at taking some of the heat off the review and approval process. Apple knows what it needs to do to make the store more app-friendly, and it isn't a webpage full of already available information aimed at placating frustrated developers.