If you, like me, hope to submit universal applications to Apple the opening of the iPad app store before March 27th, you may be interested in this information which I got from Apple:

Thank you for your inquiry.

We are accepting iPad Only or Universal applications built with the iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta 5 for a quick review on application readiness. Universal applications may be updates to existing iPhone application, however if you have critical bug fixes, please submit through the normal review process using iPhone SDK 3.1. The readiness review is not acceptance of the application since the application will need to be recompiled on iPhone SDK 3.2 GM once available.

So basically, although Apple said in their "press release" that you cannot submit universal applications before March 27, you can actually do so, provided that you are willing to wait until Apple releases it for the iPad. I also read some comments on Apple's developer forum that support this today. Sounds like a good deal to me.

... Now if only I could get that universal app ready before Saturday!

Well I messed up and forgot to send my Japanese tax forms to Apple. I could see that Apple kept on withholding 20% tax in Japan even though I filled out the forms. However, I thought it was ok just to fill them out online, but after I asked Apple about it, it turned out that you have to sign them and send them to Apple via (snail) mail.

Since I made a substantial amount of money in Japan this month I wanted the forms mailed as fast as possible. I didn't have any stamps, but my girlfriend had a bunch of them. I wasn't quite sure about the weight of the letter so I wanted to be on the safe side, and as far as we could tell all her stamps were barely enough.

The envelope ended up with 12 stamps on its front. It looked incredibly silly:

On another note, I got the description of Strip Designer translated to Japanese and it looks like it paid off. At least I could see that Strip Designer increased in rank on the Japanese app store. This is good, because it did drop quite a bit the last couple of days.

It took 2-3 days before the translation actually appeared. I am not sure why because Apple says that changes should appear within 24 hours, but perhaps adding localization takes a bit longer.

The translation costed around $60 and my girl friends asked her Japanese colleague to check it; Supposedly, it was really good. Now I am wondering if the surge I saw today was due to the translation or something else.

I've also seen a significant surge on the US app store about two days ago that I cannot explain.

Strip Designer squeezed into the top paid list of Indonesia at spot 57. Number of sales yesterday was 1. Hilarious... It is still in the top 70s, but slowly dropping.

I wonder if people in Indonesia ever buy anything on the app store...

There has been some discussions about The iPhone App Review charging money for app reviews lately. (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/03/app-store-payola/).

We got a good review at The iPhone App review, that I got nothing to complain about. The review was well written and we got a very good rating. I didn't have any influence on the review whatsoever; I didn't see it prior to publishing (in fact I only stumbled over it by accident after it was published), I didn't tell the reviewer what to write, and to my knowledge I didn't pay to get a better rating. I was actually quite happy about the review.

All in all I would say that the integrity of the reviews is probably ok, but the apps they review may be biased towards those developers that are willing to pay for a little extra exposure. One of the things that I do find curious though, is that the last 20 or so apps reviewed have a rating of between 5 and 10 on a scale of 1-10... Nothing below 5. Weird.... Well, I suppose all iPhone apps are just above average... of iPhone apps... or something.

Sure, it is not the cleanest way to review apps, but I think it is quite common. For instance, from what I have heard, it is also common practice that, if you want your product to be mentioned in a real (as in paper) magazine, you sponsor an advertisement in the magazine. Of course ads can be quite expensive...

I can also confirm the Wired article. Our payment was sent to Shaun Campell. He told wire: "I have never once sent a request for a fee to a developer to review their app". That seems to be only half the truth since we transferred the money to his Paypal account, although the request didn't come from him. On the other hand Shaun later confirms that they do receive money for "Expedited reviews". That was indeed the wording in the email I got from The Iphone App Review. I don't know how you can say you have never requested money for a review when you admit to charge for *expedited* reviews. I also don't think we really were given any other option.

I've been in touch with a couple of other sites and even a podcaster that also ask money for reviews... No names though. It is really quite a lot more common than people think. Usually, I just ignore them...

... See, the only thing I can say as a developer, is, that unless you just want a review, it isn't worth it. It has absolutely no significant impact on your sales. I thought that since The iPhone App Review is in the top 4 on Google, it would have some impact, but I couldn't tell any change from one day to the next. I even went back to look at the numbers once I saw when the review came out... Everytime we get a review I check the numbers, and every time it is the same... Nothing.

As I see it, there are only two reasons to get the reviews; 1. You can refer to them in marketing material, if people you don't know very well ask about your apps, or if you start discussions with potential partners. 2. You want a little bit more feedback than what you get from the app store reviews that are often limited to one or two words.

So to the developers who wants to make a few extra bucks... Forget the paid reviews. They are absolutely not worth it! Focus on the smaller bloggers -- They will also give you better feedback.

Strip Designer managed to squeeze into spot 65 of top paid of India yesterday. That was 2 sales. Unsurprisingly, it dropped out of the top 100 quite quickly again.

Strip Designer also managed to reclaim a spot in top 100 of Japan (no. 98). Which was quickly lost. That was for about 100 sales. So that is what it took this week.