Current rumors are that approvals go out in under a business week.
Apple uses the number of apps as a selling point, they're proud of that and want that number to rise substantially, and that they're so confident of the App Store they put their own iWork suite on it; they've been fixing that user experience.
I'm basing this solely on Apple's size and age, but I'm sure they have their own internal QA and usability process that I'm willing to bet is far more stringent than the App store approval process (and it probably has something in common with the app store approval process.
Yes, but if something slips by their QA team and they want to push a patch out, they don't have to wait a week. And if they want the new version of iWork to come out the second Steve Jobs takes the stage, they can make that happen.
The App Store takes a lot of things completely out of developers' control. In the end, Apple is still in total control with iWork on the App Store.
Apple recently released the Gallery app, and released a new version with an authentication bug fix the next day. It's pretty safe to say that they don't have to resubmit apps for approval.
I know quite a few iPhone developers and they're finding approval speeds of 1-3 days since christmas. Not quite continuous deployment yet. I guess any approval process prevents that.
The reminder is perhaps timely given the iPad launch. My observation is that criticism on these points seems to have calmed down since the week after Christmas.
This is anectodal, but I know of several developers who have had their apps approved in less time than they had expected. For two of them, who have quite a few apps each in the store (one of them over 10), the time it takes now is substantially lower than it used to take. They were never unhappy with the process, and are happier now.
Anecdotally, I had an app approved in just 5 hours after submitting it to the App Store. Granted, it was a charity app to offer crisis maps of Haiti, but they can be responsive sometimes. They also approved an update to the app in a few hours a couple days later, after I sent them this email:
====================
Hi,
We submitted an update to Gaia GPS (for Haitian Disaster Relief) that added new maps and fixed some critical bugs.
This app was originally approved just a few hours after it was submitted to the App Store, and if you could approve the update as well, that would be much appreciated.
====================
My updates often take about 10 days to approve and my new apps about 14.
It's definitely annoying, but Paul Graham is way overstating the extent to which anyone cares. The only people who really care are people who gets app rejected for odd reasons or who have apps that flop. Don't get me wrong... we care, but the tone of discord that Paul is imagining among iPhone developers is not correct. At least, my many anecdotes contradict his, and there is no real data either way.
"... The problem is not Apple's products but their policies. Fortunately policies are software; Apple can change them instantly if they want to. Handy that, isn't it? ..."
This has changed.
"... They treat iPhone apps the way they treat the music they sell through iTunes. Apple is the channel; they own the user; if you want to reach users, you do it on their terms. ..."
This has not changed.
I think the basic idea that pg was getting at is "evil begets stupidity". While I'll reserve judgment until I see how media is handled & app rollout goes I don't like what I see with delicious monster ~ http://twitter.com/wilshipley/status/8289792566 because the stupidity button can still be turned on (and off).
From my anecdotal experience the approval process got a lot quicker with the build up to the iPad announcement. I had many updates approved in 24 hours or less when they have taken weeks before. However looks like its ground to a halt again as I have an update still waiting for review after 5 days.
I'm a no name iPhone developer and the most recent app I released was approved in ~2 biz days. This was my second app. The first time it took over a week (around 6 months ago).
"We have triumphed over the unprincipled dissemination of facts.
We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology, where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. "
OT, but wow that sure sounds a lot like China's current fumbling for a justification for censorship.
Apple's approval process might not be /that bad/ if you are lucky or if you are writing a fairly average app that doesn't do much or doesn't do anything Apple cares about at least, But it sure is stinky if you're among the 0.10% that Apple has beef with for some reason or another. Then you're looking at lots of wasted time, effort and of course money.
And of course you can't know for sure if you'll be in that minority until after you have already spent the resources to develop the app in the first place.
They're simply shifting one of their best ideas over to a new device. It's revolutionised how apps get delivered and created a huge barrier to entry for competing phones/devices. Every app (/song) you buy is a reason to not move to a new device.
Sure a few developers are more cranky than before but on balance there still seem to be more apps coming out than before. As a user I'm dismayed mostly by how much junk is on the app store.
Apple uses the number of apps as a selling point, they're proud of that and want that number to rise substantially, and that they're so confident of the App Store they put their own iWork suite on it; they've been fixing that user experience.