What causes Apps to simply disappear from the iTunes store?

[braddick]

I was just checking "Blue Man Group- Marshmallow Toss" and see it is no longer offered in the iTunes store.
Why do apps leave the store? Are some on a time restriction and if they don't sell a certain amount of units per month, or what have you, the store drops the app?

 

[labman]

ahh

part of the mystery's of the world! add it to the list of the world's greatest unsolved mystery's. some think the app store in controlled by the keebler elfs


http://www.coolbuzz.org/entry/worlds-greatest-unsolved-mysteries/

and the last Entry how apps are approved and removed! thee world may never solve this one

 

[mkrishnan]

AFAIK, they're pulled essentially for three reasons

- Apple pulls them because they violate a store rule, pressure from someone who presents a valid argument that they violate some legal protection, for arbitrary and capricious reasons only Apple knows, etc.

Apple might also at some point pull an app for failing to have met 3.0 compatibility, but I'm not certain that's going to happen or has happened.

- The developer themselves pull it for a variety of reasons (buggy, re-releasing with new name, commercial issues, legal issues, just don't want to support it anymore, etc).

I don't think apps get pulled (by Apple) because of poor performance -- once they're in, they're in.

 

[braddick]

Thanks. Good info. I appreciate it. The above app isn't the first of its kind to disappear.

I've had it happen before.
On a side note, too bad about Blue Man Group. It's actually a fun game although poorly received.

 

[Pika]

They disappear because Steve Jobs doesn't want them on his iPhone.

 

[adster]

I was trying to wonder about that myself.

I had the app [app]earthscape[/app] but recently i went to look it up and realized it had disappeared.I can't find any article as to why it's gone and the website still shows it listed as available. This was a few months ago, and it's still not in the store. I just crop it up to a big mystery.

EDIT: That's weird. not 2 days ago, when I was cleaning out my Apps it wasn't listen in the store, but as soon as I checked after making this post - it's there. What a weird world we live in.