App Store: Mysterious App disappearances

Some apps have been pulled from the App Store already, including Box Office, Aurora Feint, and most recently, NetShare.

I hope Apple doesn’t make a habit of removing apps suddenly, without notice or explanation. That would make the App Store a rather unreliable shopping place. You make a mental note of some products and shelves, and next time you’re there everything’s changed. Not good for Apple if this keeps up, and certainly not good for the developers OR the customers. Complications are waiting to arise.

What’s worrying is that there is no easy pattern one can see here. All disappearances have been under very different circumstances.

(I have this sinister scenario forming in my mind at this point: after everyone’s signed out, and it’s all quiet at the App Store, some health app (called Nurse Duckett, maybe?)  goes running to Box Office and says “they’re going to disappear you (link)!” Confusion. Panic. And by next morning, there’s no trace that Box Office ever existed.

But I digress.

• Box Office was a free app which let you search through the Rotten Tomatoes movie review and ratings database. A wonderful, service, if you ask me. Extremely handy if you are at the DVD store, and need to make a quick decision. The developers of Box Office are still wondering what went wrong, and how they can get their app back in the App Store.
• Aurora Feint too went missing, apparently because it compromised the security or privacy of its users by collecting information from the phone’s contacts list, or by sharing the information it had collected. Or both. Not sure what went wrong there, but that app is back in the App Store now.
• Nullriver’s iPhone tethering app Netshare has been appearing on and off at the App Store. This app lets you use the 3G connectivity provided by AT&T as your Internet connection on your computer or laptop. Turns your iPhone into a modem, basically. Maybe AT&T has some objections to this app?

NetShare was selling for $25. I’m not sure if anyone bought it before it was taken down, but if someone did, are they now entitled to a refund? After all, it is reasonable to expect that when you buy an app, you are also entitled to some upgrades in the near future, as well as basic technical support. Or if you sync your phone with iTunes immediately after a purchase and the app gets deleted from your phone, does that entitle you to a refund? It should of course. I’m just not sure if it’s happening that way, though. Do we know anyone who purchased NetShare? And while we’re on the subject, can anyone see a pattern in the way apps are being “disappeared”?