If you’ve ever developed an iOS app, you know that the submission process can be a scary one. Apple provides developers with a HIG (Human Interface Guidelines) that must be followed, but sometimes something obscure trips you up during the process.

One such oddity has started causing an issue for apps that use the Dropbox SDK. Apparently, apps have started to be rejected left and right because of a rogue link to a desktop version of the service that allows users to add more storage to their account.

That’s right, Apple has rules against allowing users to purchase things outside of the application. If a service isn’t using Apple’s in-app purchase platform, it can’t provide an outside link to purchase a subscription service.

It seems like the first app got rejected for this very reason just a few days ago, and other developers have joined in on Dropbox’s forum about the issue. In case you’re wondering what the reasoning these apps are getting for rejection, here’s what Apple is responding with:

11.13

We found that your app provides access to external mechanisms for purchases or subscriptions to be used in the app, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines.

Specifically, your app enables to user to create accounts with Dropbox and Google.

Well that sucks. Apparently at some point when using an app that utilizes the Dropbox SDK, you can create an account for the service if you don’t already have one. At that point, there’s a link to a desktop version of Dropbox that lets you upgrade your account. That’s exactly what Apple isn’t a fan of.

I’m sure this isn’t something that Dropbox slipped in purposely, but once the red flag is attached to an app using a rule-breaking SDK, all apps being submitted afterwards are automatically bundled in as no bueno as well.

Here’s a snippet of a conversation that one such developer had with Apple, in which it clarifies the issue:

And here’s the Safari page complete with nasty link that lets people *gasp*, pay Dropbox some money for its awesome service:

Luckily, the Dropbox team jumped into the forum and it has released a new SDK that gets rid of that rogue desktop link. The company says that a long-term solution is coming soon, perhaps as soon as next week.

While Apple is just acting within its rights as an application platform, this rule is a pretty ridiculous one. I’m not sure how companies are supposed to make money if every single door to do so is closed, and developers are basically forced to flow money through Apple.

UPDATE: Dropbox confirms it is working with Apple to fix app rejection issue

The social mobile app boon is thanks in large part to Facebook and it’s Open Graph platform it launched last year at f8.

Many apps have seen explosive growth and engagement thanks to sharing actions on the Timeline of Facebook users, and the social network has shared some astonishing numbers that support the trend.

According to Facebook, it sent 160 million visitors to mobile apps totaling 1.1B visits:

- Facebook sent more than 160 million visitors last month to mobile apps (up from 60 million in late February).
- These mobile visitors were responsible for more than 1.1 billion visits to mobile apps in the same time frame (up from 320 million in late February).
- Seven of the top ten grossing iOS apps and six of the top ten grossing Android apps are integrated with Facebook.

One of the apps that has Facebook to thank for its growth is social video sharing site Viddy. The app has grown its userbase to over 16M users, with the majority coming once videos and actions started appearing on its member’s Timelines.

The integration of Facebook was a huge jumping off point for iOS-only-at-first Instagram, leaving many Android users feeling left out until they got their own version of the app.

Facebook integration, once only helpful for easy sign-up and login, is doing more than driving new users to apps. Mobile content from the apps are seeing an increase in visits as well. Movie review app Flixster says that its visitor numbers have risen 10X since it launched its Open Graph integration just four weeks ago.

Microsoft is trying to clean up the Windows Phone Marketplace and as part of this effort, the company just clarified some of its guidelines for developers who want to sell their apps in Microsoft’s app store. Among other things, Microsoft has decided to move to “a more stringent interpretation and enforcement of our existing content policy” for apps that are “‘racy’ or sexual in nature.” This is a problem we pointed early last month. As Matt Burns put it, Windows Phone has a nasty porn addiction. Microsoft clearly agrees and is thankfully trying to kick the habit.

Microsoft, just like most of its competitors, doesn’t allow apps that contain “sexually suggestive or provocative” images or content. Swimsuits are fine. The company says that it will now pay “more attention to the icons, titles, and content of these apps and expects them to be more subtle and modest in the imagery and terms used.”

According to Todd Brix, Microsoft’s senior director of the Marketplace, the company will contact those developers whose “racy” apps slipped through the earlier approval process and ask them to change their apps. Microsoft says that it is making this change to improve the shopping experience for all of its customers. It will also monitor its customers’ reactions and may remove apps that its users find offensive.

Here are some of the images that would be acceptable under these new rules:

Given all the problems Apple had with its rules for adult-themed apps, it’s probably a good idea for Microsoft to be proactive here.

There are currently about 70,000 apps in the Marketplace and the store is growing nicely, though there have been some complaints about the quality of the apps in the store. In this context, Brix also used this opportunity to remind developers to keep the quality of their apps up.

Developers, for example, aren’t allowed to submit the same app to multiple categories and can’t use more than five keywords per app. Since its launch, developers have also been trying to game the Marketplace by tagging their apps with popular tags (“Justin Bieber,” “YouTube” etc.) that had little or nothing to do with their apps. Microsoft now plans to crack down on this, too.

With the release of their BlackBerry 10 beta development tools and Dev Alpha devices earlier today, RIM has made it very clear that they want to build up as much developer love as possible before BlackBerry 10 officially launches.

Well, as it turns out, that’s not the only thing they’re doing to attract devs. Alec Saunders, RIM’s VP of Developer Relations, revealed at BlackBerry World that RIM will guarantee developers of quality apps a minimum of $10,000 in annual earnings — if developers come in under the $10K mark during their first year, RIM will actually pay them the difference.

Ah, but there’s a catch (isn’t there always?). In order to qualify for RIM’s generous offer, the apps in question must meet a strict new quality certification program whose standards have yet to be laid concretely laid out. One thing is known for sure though — once an app has been officially approved for sale in the App World and nabs that new certification, it has to generate at least $1,000 on its own before RIM swoops in and cuts the developer a check.

Translation: the apps can’t completely suck. Sorry fart app devs, that means you.

It may not be the most novel approach — hell, just look at Microsoft’s track record — but it certainly drives home their developer-focused point. Frankly, it also smacks a bit of desperation. The one-time king of the smartphone realm now seems so hard up for more good apps that they’re willing to pay developers to build nifty things for their new platform.

Then again, with all of mud that’s been flung at RIM in the recent past, I can’t really blame for turning to payouts to make their platform a safer bet for developers. Creating rich, meaningful mobile content takes plenty of time and effort, and RIM is clearly doing whatever they can to make sure their app store gets some of that good stuff. Now the big question is whether or not RIM will be able to keep the momentum from this program going after they blow through their budget.

When Transport for London (TfL) announced back in 2010 that it was opening its bus and London Underground data for developers to access, a steady stream of apps began to emerge from the developer underworld, as we’ve seen already.

There’s BusIt London, the mobile-friendly Web app, Bus Guru which gives you live bus times and optimum routes, while TubeTap lets delayed commuters claim refunds automatically. Then a couple of weeks back we brought you Commuter, bringing us a step closer towards the ultimate public transport app.

Now, National Rail Enquiries has launched its own official mobile app for Android and iOS, letting travelers access real-time information on overground rail transport in England, Scotland and Wales.

The app features most of National Rail Enquiries’ online tools, such as a real-time journey planner and live departure boards, reeling in up-to-the-minute information about disruptions and stations. Customers can also access relevant station information through the journey planner which includes links to more detailed information on National Rail Enquiries’ mobile website.

Two particularly notable features of the app include push notifications, which automatically alert passengers of any delays or changes to scheduled services, and the ability to plan a journey with real-time data and check live departure boards without the need for an Internet connection. And it’s probably also worth noting that the app features a pretty useful ‘wake me up alarm’, alerting passengers to their final destination.

Users also have the option to view results by destination or origin, and they can monitor the live progress of each train service if they wish.

NRE  & Data Licensing

National Rail Enquiries (NRE) was set up by train companies after privatization in the 1990s, and it’s run and paid for by them collectively. It’s now the main source of rail information in Britain, once relying on its telephone service to dish out travel-related information to the public, before becoming one of the busiest transport websites.

At the heart of all this is Darwin, a software application providing passengers with real time information on train services. This application pulls in rail industry data, much of it raw, from a range of sources, and then combines and interprets it to make it usable to passengers. The service has seen the total number of enquiries it handles increase fourfold to over 250 million a year, from 16 million customers.

NRE licenses developers who want to use its processed data, and more than 123 third party licences have been issued thus far, including 47 mobile apps across ten platforms. Now, with the introduction of a dedicated National Rail Enquiries app, developers have been advised that they are no longer able to use the National Rail logo to identify their app in the app stores, though the data itself will remain the same. NRE says this is primarily to avoid customer confusion over brand identification.

“Development and innovation are at the forefront of all we do at National Rail Enquiries, and we are confident that this app will help the growing number of smartphone users to quickly and easily access up-to-date information about train services while on the move,” says Chris Scoggins, Chief Executive of National Rail Enquiries. “Innovation in the mobile market continues to gather pace, and we are delighted to offer customers the choice of a free app that provides relevant, real time information about UK train journeys.”

Whilst the app itself is free, it will include ads. You can, however, choose to upgrade to an ad-free version for £4.99.

➤ National Rail Enquiries: Android | iOS

When John and I first chatted out the idea of an NYC-based TC meet-up, we expected around 500 attendees. Last week we hit the 700 mark, and today we’ve surpassed 1,000 RSVPs. Luckily, our fine sponsors have made sure that there’ll be enough beer and pizza for everyone.

But, we’re still going to need a little help.

Sure, John Biggs, myself, Chris Velazco, Matt Burns, Eric Eldon, Peter Ha, and Josh Zelman will be there to coordinate and run the event.

But we’ll also be busy hearing hundreds (or I guess thousands) of pitches, singing Karaoke, and throwing back beers. Which is why we need you! Four of you, to be specific.

Duties include handling the door, making sure the Pizza Party doesn’t get out of hand, helping set up the venue with banners and tables and such, and also drinking plenty of beer. That said, volunteers must be 21 or older. Oh, and the positions are unpaid. (I know, this makes us monsters. Monsters, Inc. if you will.)

If a night of tech startup Tom-foolery sounds like the perfect Tuesday evening, these are your instructions:

• Send an email to jordan (at) techcrunch (dot) com about why you should be part of our staff for the TC NYC Meet-Up
• Subject line of the email should read: TC MEETUP VOLUNTEER
• Your pitch should be no more than five sentences
• Jokes help

Here’s a refresh on the deets:

You can RSVP on our PlanCast page for the Meet-Up, which will go down on Tuesday, May 8 from 6pm-10pm at Bar 13 on 13th St. and University Pl.

And another look at our sponsors:

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Parlor® is the creator of unique branded communication applications: GroupCall™, TopicTalk™ and MobiCast™. Our goal is to make useful tools to communicate globally, both efficiently and for free. We will be unleashing these three awesome applications on iOS and Android at TechCrunch Disrupt NYC 2012. Follow us at http://Parlor.fm for news and updates.

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PeoplePerHour is Europe’s leading marketplace connecting startups and entrepreneurs to freelance talent worldwide and we’ve just landed in NYC! Project by project we’re awakening an enormous latent workforce, from the stay at home mom and the retiree to the moonlighter and the hobbyist, removing the constraints of the traditional 9-5 office. Be it for a quick logo design, building a website, copywriting or a small translation… we’re helping businesses keep their core lean and to get the job done fast. Our vision is for this to be the defining factor in the future of work.

TouchTunes Interactive Networks is the largest interactive out-of-home entertainment network in North America. TouchTunes provides entertainment and marketing solutions to 52,000 bars and restaurants. Founded in 1998, the network has become the largest of its kind with 54M monthly users who played more than 900 million songs in 2011. The TouchTunes mobile app allows consumers in bars, restaurants, hotels, retail and arenas to play any song from our catalog without having to leave their seat and is socially integrated. TouchTunes network is the largest digital out-of-home advertising network in the US (Nielsen) and includes TouchTunesTV, a unique screen-within-a-screen interactive television experience that provides custom advertising capabilities, venue promotions and social networking opportunities. TouchTunes is a privately held U.S. corporation with offices in New York City, Arlington Heights, Illinois and Montreal, Canada. For further information, please visit us at touchtunes.com.

Parents looking for a curated selection of music and videos that’s a little more kid-friendly than YouTube have another option now, thanks to the launch of Jitterbug.tv. The new iPad app is the first subscription-based music service for kids, and is targeting the 2-7 age range. Included in the app are videos and music from top kids artists like 23 Skidoo, The Jimmies, Laura Veirs, Milkshake Music, The Verve Pipe (yes, they’re a kids’ band now), Recess Monkey, and Gustafar Yellowgold.

I know, I know. If you don’t have kids, you’re like who the heck…wait, Verve Pipe? What? But if you are a parent of a young one, you’ll recognize at least a few of those names. (Sadly).

The app is reminiscent of another one we briefly reviewed, called Happly for iPad. Like Happly, the new Jitterbug app serves up a curated selection of videos, but Happly is focused on more educational fare pulled from YouTube, which it combines with other content, like stories and games. Jitterbug, meanwhile, is all about the music.

It’s also not entirely free. The app itself is free to download and try for 15 days, but continued usage requires a $3.99/month subscription. That payment gives you, well… your kids, access to ad-free music from rock, pop, hip hop, folk and acoustic genres, and the revenue generated through the app is shared with the artists featured on the platform. (In other words, it’s not just a slapped together selection of stuff from YouTube). In addition to videos, audio content is available as well. And both are accessible on the iPad or on the web.

As far as the app itself goes – the experience is OK. Once signed in, videos and music are in separate sections, laid out with easy-to-browse thumbnails, and play controls are simple enough for young users. The biggest complaint, besides the fact that the app lacks a true native feel, is that you can’t register for an account from the app itself – you have to sign up first on the website. No, scratch that – the biggest complaint is the lack of offline streaming. (That may not be a concern if you have a 3G/4G iPad, however).

If you’re wondering why something like Jitterbug makes sense for parents, then you’re either A) not one or B) haven’t stumbled across the YouTube horrors that are Elmo telling baby “f*** you,” holding a knife, exploding, or generally terrorizing kids. Hilarious, sure…until you spend the next few months dealing with your kids’ nightmares. Is your sleep worth $3.99/month? That’s the real question you should ask yourself.

Jitterbug LLC was co-founded in 2008 by Grammy winning music mixer Dan Gellert and Randall Green, previously the CEO of Spanish-language video service Butaca.tv and co-founder of Butaca.tv parent Veranda Entertainment. The company is based in L.A.

A camera is highly important in any smartphone.

Even since before the iPhone, the ability to snap a picture on your cell phone and essentially leave your camera at home not only changed the digital camera industry for good, but it has changed the way we look at smartphones and ultimately affects our purchasing decisions.

At RIM’s BlackBerry Jam conference this morning, the company hit us with a really interesting take on smartphone camera software. We still know very little about the hardware specs coming out of RIM later this year, but a demo of the BlackBerry camera app shows that the company is thinking about ways to wow current and potential BlackBerry users.

Thorsten Heins, the new RIM CEO, demoed the app showing that all you need to do is take a picture. From there, you actually have the ability to turn back time.

A little analog-style wheel appears on top of the picture, and you can drag a pin along the wheel backwards or forwards to move through a certain amount of time. Even though you have control over when you snap the pic, the app itself is actually capturing extra frames, just in case someone’s eyes are closed or something.

Well done, RIM.

Thanks to our sister site Engadget for the image!

There are all kinds of smartphone apps. There are games, social network apps, news apps, less useful apps and then, once in a while, there are apps that come along and have a significant affect on our lives. Noom, a New York based startup, aims to make these very kind of apps.

Its website states its mission is “to make a healthy living a seamless part everyday of life”, and the company has a range of lifestyle and fitness apps for Android, each designed to encourage healthly living.

The company’s flagship app — Noom Weight Loss Coach —  is more than just an app, and it coaches users 24 hours a day, helping them to keep track of their efforts to lose pounds. It provides tasks, exercises, quizzes and even suggestions for meals – but sadly it doesn’t cook too.

As the video shows, features that set it apart from competing fitness and weight loss apps include its varied reactions to the users behavior. If a user slacks off, the app encourages them by providing easy tasks to build confidence and links to the Noom forum where they can seek encouragement from other members.

One of the reasons many users end up getting tired of lifestyle apps is often the effort of logging progress and other data, such as calculating the number of calories consumers. Noom tries to make such processes as painless as possible by giving users easier way to input, or in some cases, have the app recognise activities.

Calorific is a calorie logging app which, instead of using a numbered counting system, works calories out using a ratio system. Foods are divided into green, yellow and red categories and if the user is unsure what category a food belongs in, a more detailed menu outlining specific types of food is available.

The app aims to help you change your eating habits rather than just trying to make sure you don’t go over a certain number of calories each day.

Perhaps the most important element that Noom tries to add is fun. Its Racing for Cardio Trainer app tracks a user’s running path and measures the time and distance. Users can race against your previous times, with a voice keeping you up to date with how far behind or ahead you are while you run.

The heart of the apps is more than just providing features to track progress, its founders say, the firm is about promoting lifestyle:

We know users do not go for an exercise everyday, so we are trying to make our features simple and easy to follow everyday. So, we are talking about wellness, not fitness.

Noom is also creating innovations that can be used in gyms. The company says it is currently refining its technology to make cardio workouts more fun, hinting on its website that future products could link users across the world:

Just imagine pedaling down the real streets of Paris, racing against your friends from all the world! Stay tuned.”

Noom was originally founded as WorkSmart Labs in 2007 by Saeju Jeong and Artem Petakov. Jeong had come to the US from South Korea in 2005 after some hard times. Back in 1999 at the age of 20, he founded an online shopping mall site but closed it down after his father fell ill and passed away from cancer.

He decided he had to do something and despite those around him trying to convince him otherwise, and he made his way to the US with only a plane ticket and no understanding of English. Jeong attempted to produce musicals in Broadway to take back to Korea, but things didn’t go as planned and he ended up in a tough spot once again.

After talking to others about his situation, Jeong says that a surprising thing happened.

After failing once and meeting people to try and get back up I realized one thing — if you talk about it you will always find a way. Maybe it was possible because I was in a country like the US.

In 2005 Jeong met Artem Petakov, who was then working for Google, and the duo set out on a mission to combine their skills to create technology which would help improve lifestyles. In December of last year the company’s name was changed from WorkSmart Labs to Noom Inc.

Noom apps are currently only available for Android but Jeong says that the company does intend to expand its services to iOS in the future.

We decided to improve the quality first then port it to iOS. Android is a better platform to iterate the product quality.

What do you think of Noom’s apps, can they get you motivated to reach your goals? Find out by giving them a try and downloading them from the Noom website.

There aren’t too many people who love email these days, but few of us can actually live without it. Thankfully, there are a number of startups that are trying to make email more manageable. One of them is 410 Labs’ Shortmail, which restricts messages to 500 characters or less. If anybody tries to send a longer message to your @shortmail address, the email will bounce and your sender will be asked to write a short message. This Twitter-like model should make for briefer and more focused discussion. Shortmail just launched its updated iPhone app today, which includes an offline mode, as well as the ability to “put a message on ice” and have the app remind you to answer at a later date. The update now also lets you see which of your recipients have read your messages.

The highlight of the new app, 410 Labs co-founder Dave Troy told me earlier today, is its offline mode. Most email clients for the iPhone, says Troy, don’t handle being offline well. Instead, they usually “freak out” and throw error messages at their users. The new Shortmail app, on the other hand, simply notices that your are offline and just lets you reply to your messages in quiet. Once you are back online, it’ll quietly send your queued messages and sync up every other action you took in the app while you were on that long international flight.

The other interesting new feature in the app is its “Let’s Chill” tool. If you are familiar with Boomerang for Gmail, you already know how this works: instead of answering a message right away, you simply tell the app to put it on ice for the time being and then put it back into your queue at a later date.

One issue with the service, of course, is that it requires you to use a new email platform and address. The Shortmail team is quite aware of this and is working on making it easier for people to use it in conjunction with their existing email provider.

Last summer, 410 Labs raised $750,000 in a Series A round with participation by 500 Startups, True Ventures, Fortify Ventures and the Maryland Venture Fund.