There’s no denying it, the Apple iTunes App Store is a big success.  They just recently passed an unbelievable milestone.  1 billion applications have been downloaded since it launched last summer.  1 billion!  That’s a lot of apps.  Everyone wants in to this new found fortune and developers are springing up left and right each with their golden ticket, in the form of an application they’ve developed, that they hope leads them to gold at the end of the rainbow, in the form of countless downloads.

With popularity comes problems for Apple.  How does Apple not only go about approving or rejecting applications that are submitted to the App Store (this process has always remained a bit of a mystery) but once they are approved how are they then organized in the App Store in a format that makes sense to the consumer?

The first part of of the problem is how applications get approved and why they get rejected.  That part of puzzle seems to be anyone’s guess at this point.  What we know is the submission process is rather simple.  Developers “submit” their applications to Apple and then wait.  Sometimes they hear back quickly, other times it takes weeks.

Sling Media, for example, submitted their highly anticipated Slingbox application to Apple over five weeks ago and still has not received word on its approval.  If the application gets approved it’s placed in the iTunes App Store.  If an application is rejected the developer is told so and given a explanation as to why.

Sometimes the reason applications get rejected makes clear sense, sometimes it does not.  Apple doesn’t allow pornographic materiel in the App Store, that we get.  If your application has nudity expect to be rejected.

But just this week one of the more popular applications in the App Store had an update rejected.  As first reported by The iPhone Blog, the Nine Inch Nails Tap Tap Revenge application was due to receive an update this week.  It was however rejected for what Apple called “objectionable content.”

Apple rejects the NIN iPhone update because it contains objectionable content. The objectionable content referenced is “The Downward Spiral”

What makes the entire thing even more confusing is that the song referenced as “objectionable” in the iTunes rejection letter is available for download via iTunes!  This once again left  developers and consumers scratching their heads still unsure why some applications pass the test while others do not.

Part two of the issue seems to be an even bigger problem for Apple to deal with and one that really left me thinking “huh?”

Who decides what applications go where once they are placed in the App Store?  I think it’s important the App Store stayed streamlined.  It should be easy to navigate its different categories without feeling overwhelmed.

But there seems to be a problem with the categories themselves.  If Apple is going to stay with their strict set of standards when it comes to the approval of applications they’d better take a close look at where they place applications within the store.  Here is their wordage when they reject an application,

“Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgment may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.”

A perfect example is the “Lifestyle Category.”  A quick look at the top ten paid applications in the category yields some interesting results.

Apple wants the App Store to remain PG but lists in the same category applications called “Sexy Game” and “Bikini Blast” right along side ones called “Bible Shaker” and “Grocery IQ.”  It just doesn’t fit.  Are they being hypocritical?

Now I’m no saint, but I do recognize the need to have applications that have made there way into the App Store, even though they might contain boarder line questionable content, separated from those applications that deal with safer topics.

The Entertainment category suffers from the same confusing issue.  “The Moron Test” and “The Sexy Ladies of Show” in the top ten paid applications along side “Emergency Radio” and “3000 Awesome Facts.”

If Apple wants to allow developers to select which categories their applications fail into that’s fine.  But then they either need to simply check up on these selections or create more categories.

So while I love the App Store, it’s not without fault.  The way apps get approved remains a confusing and sometimes frustrating issue for both developers and the end user.  Once applications are approved and make their way into the App Store, sorting them and grouping them into a way that makes sense becomes even more of a challenge.

This all may change with Apple’s recent announcement of Parental Controls to be included in the iPhone 3.0 software.  Perhaps Apple will change its policy and begin allowing applications that it once rejected knowing that these new controls exist.  Will the entire application review process be revamped?  Perhaps nothing will change.  We’ll have to wait and see.

One billion downloads it certainly a lot to deal but if you’re Apple shouldn’t you be able to handle it?

You can read more about the NIN app rejection on the band’s web site.  Just be warned.  The language used by Trent Reznor wouldn’t make it into the App Store.