On Jan. 31, the iTunes store published the iPad app our team created. I'd heard about the challenges of publishing an app in Apple's store and now I know firsthand. If there is one thing that discriminates Apple as a company, it's that they care enough about quality to vet the material they provide. Apps are tested to verify they work, evaluated for good graphic design and a functional user interface. They even require a functional support page.

The flip side of their vetting is it can seem very capricious and subjective. What, definitively, is good design or a good interface? All too often, the answer falls into the category of "I'll know it when I see it." With Apple, the best bet is do your best work and submit it for review, then wait… and wait… and wait.

In today's world of rapid-fire fast-paced communications, we are conditioned like so many Pavlovian cyber-pups to expect a reply shortly after hitting send, but with Apple review, the time cycle is surreal, in slow-motion. Cycles between communications are measured in multi-day increments. Hit send and a day later, you'll get an acknowledgement your submission was received. Six days or so later, you'll get another email that they plan on looking at it. In our case, we got a note saying our app was rejected. They provided one good reason, which could be easily fixed, and one subjective reason, which we thought could be challenged.

So, we submitted our challenge to Apple's App Review Board. Once again, time moved in slow motion. Two days later, they acknowledged receiving it. Eleven days later, they sent an email saying they wanted to talk. Two days later, they told us they would call wihin three days. Naturally, the call came while I was home having lunch, but with some discussion about possible ways to improve the app's functionality and incorporate more iOS functionality, I was told the app was approved.

I now understand the process of giving birth, albeit cyber-birth... a bit painful, a bit longer than expected, but an app is born.

I am proud to say the opportunity to exercise our developer account arrived. At the beginning of 2012, we submitted compiled native code for the INL Nuclear Research App to the iTunes store for their review. At the same time, another version of the app was submitted and accepted in the Android Market.

The INL Nuclear Research App project began with a client request to develop a virtual tour of nuclear research capabilties at the Idaho National Laboratory. Cary Hart and Cassie Hemphill kicked off the project with a review of INL Nuclear Research capabilities. Their review was roughly based on a discourse analysis model, which basically meant they poured over everything they could find concerning INL and its research. Their review allowed them to create a structure that would articulate the work INL performs in a meaningful way. 

With the initial design of the app's structure completed, we turned to Imageworks to build a web application using a framework optimized for upload to mobile devices. Web apps, as they are called, require an internet connection to function. We wrote the content, collected the images and inserted them into the new framework. After a comprehensive review of the collected content, the web app was launched in October 2011.

The next step was translating the web app into a native platform. For this, we turned to long-time partner NorthWind, who rebuilt the entire code in Adobe Flash Builder so it could be exported for Android and iOS loading. When the base work was completed, we pulled the code in-house to correct the remaining functional issues and typos. After several rounds of compiling beta versions of the native app and review by our testers, we finally had an app that was ready for submittal to iTunes.

Despite Apple Computer's reputation for excellent user interface and design, the back end of the iTunes store is obtuse. Digital certificates tied to the developer account must be converted from one format to another. App IDs and provisioning files must be developed. Certificates must be generated and tied to digital keys that are in turn embedded into the App code. And eventually, the final binary must be compiled, a process that chews through computer time. Submittal was a trial-and-error process; each attempt to get the sequencing correct took about half an hour. Eventually, the app was submitted.

The ball is now in Apple's court. With luck, it will be in the iTunes store next week.

Here is a link to the App Tutorial Video I did yesterday…

INL Nuclear Research App - Overview from ComDesigns on Vimeo.