Approval
Let’s say you’re not one of the me-too developers and you spend months developing a controversial game and even though you’re certain you’re not violating any part of the iPhone SDK Agreement, some anonymous Apple-employee deems your work inappropriate for the AppStore. ( – Before you even started development you contacted support and explained your idea to them asking if they saw any problem there, but of course you never heard back…) So you can reply to appreview@apple.com (of course no one ever mentions a name, a phone-number or a proper reason in those rejection mails) and argue, but unless you’re able to make a big fuzz, you won’t ever hear back from them. Unless you now want to cripple your game by changing random things and hopeing that this will make it more appropriate for the AppStore, the only thing left to do is to try and submit it again as it is and hope for a more open-minded Mr. X to review your game this time around…
Payment
Apple splits the world in 7 regions and you’re only paid for each region where you sold more than $250. If you sold less your money won’t go away, but Apple keeps it until you reach $250 in that region.
At the end of each month you have to wait for the Monthly Reports. You’ll get one from each of the 7 regions about 2-4 weeks after the end of the month, detailing how much you’ve sold in each region. Then you have to wait about another month until you’re actually paid.
So if you’re spending your last money on developing the next big hit, remember to save enough so you can pay the rent for at least two more months.
Refunds
Even though you only get about 70% of the price, if someone asks for a refund you pay the full 100%, leaving you at a 30% loss. So if are an indie and huge crowd decides they’re unhappy with your App, they can effectively ruin you.
These are just a few things to be aware of when developing for the iPhone…