According to Global News, Apple has apologized to Brendan Eshom, a first year University of British Columbia student from Prince Rupert, B.C., after removing his free indigenous language app from the App Store and accusing the student of “dishonest and fraudulent acts.”
His Sm’algyax Word app was launched on both Apple’s store and Google Play in July, only to be unexpectedly removed weeks later.
“One day I just got an email from Apple and it was all gone,” Brendan Eshom told “Global News.” “All my hard work was gone that I had spent almost half a year on.”
Eshom says he received an automated email from the tech giant telling him it was terminating his status as an Apple developer pursuant to the Apple Developer Agreement for dishonest and fraudulent acts related to that agreement.His ” that attempts to reach Apple were unsuccessful, so Eshom contacted Global News’ “Consumer Matters” for help. Consumer Matters contacted Apple asking why the app had been removed and why Eshom’s status on Apple had been terminated.
In an email, Apple had this to say:
Maintaining the integrity of the App Store is a responsibility we take seriously to ensure the safety of our customers, and give every developer a platform to share their brightest ideas with the world. Unfortunately, this developer’s app, which is a great example of how technology can be used to bridge cultural understanding, was mistakenly removed from the App Store.
We regret this error and apologize to Mr. Eshom for the inconvenience this caused him. We have since reinstated his developer account and app, and will continue our efforts to improve our processes to ensure this does not happen again.
