Update! New Apps (soon), Ratings, Success!

Hey Guys,

It’s been a little while since we last updated everyone on what’s been going on in the Alkali Media world. We’ve been working on a few new iPhone apps, and we still have a few in for approval. We had a pair of applications rejected again for the whole offensive content thing… However, we were waiting for what looked like some promise with the iPhone OS 3.0 update, and yesterday we saw some light at the end of the tunnel with the announcement of Parental Controls integrated into the software, as well as a rating system for all App Store Applications at Apple’s annual WWDC. With that, the apps are in for approval again!

We’ve got a few other things in the works right now, so hopefully we’ll be getting multiple applications into the store in the very near future. For now, don’t forget to check out PrudeBox, now apparently world famous for its flamboyant facelift.

Thanks for your continued support, and we’ll be updating you as soon as we have some more news.

Peace!
Chris, Pat & Mike

PrudeBox is an Internet Success!

Friday, we notified some well-established tech blogs about CrudeBox PrudeBox, our first application. We were met with an overwhelming response when some of these blogs posted articles about PrudeBox and its trials and tribulations in the Apple app approval process. Below are links to some of the blogs that picked up the PrudeBox story.

Boing Boing Gadgets

The Download Squad

Crunch Gear

Mobile Crunch

Daily Finance (AOL money and finance)

About Apps

Apple iPhone Apps

While there’s always going to be criticism toward any crude app (despite its name; hear that Apple?), we seem to have amassed an overwhelming amount of positive reviews in the App store from people that we don’t even know (yes, we were pretty surprised too)! Check out WorldOfSuck’s review:

“This is, so far, the best sound effects app for the iPhone. It allows for quick access to 16 different sounds, and those sounds are very high quality and have a pretty wide range of antisocial applications.  Where most sound effects apps tend to overspecialize (did I REALLY need 20 different fart sounds?), Prudebox is much more diverse, and designed with quick access in mind, essential for comic timing. I hope that in the future there will be more customizability (being able to use your own sounds would be ideal) but in the mean time this is still the best SFX app in the app store, bar none.”

So, maybe our release of a bodily function sound effects app was a little late to the party.  However, we’re pretty stoked that people are actually acknowledging how much time we put into the app to make sure it stood out from the rest. We feel like the superior sound quality, mixed with a variety of crude sounds really sets PrudeBox apart from the others.

What started out as a little project seems to have flourished into a great start for a new development company like Alkali Media. This really is just the start. We have quite a few more tricks up our sleeve with our upcoming applications. For anyone that has downloaded PrudeBox, we thank you for supporting us! Please keep an eye out for new applications from Alkali Media in the upcoming weeks.

Cheers,
Pat, Mike, and Chris

Crudebox Renamed PrudeBox, Goes All the Way on the Third Try

It would be like preaching to the choir if anyone were to complain about the disappointment of having an app initially denied from the iTunes App Store. With hundreds of new applications released each week, there are sure to be a handful of apps Apple fundamentally disagrees with. It’s quite disheartening when your app falls into the latter category. However, there’s no greater success than beating Apple at its own game.

Alkali Media, LLC is run by three recent college grads. For three guys fresh out of college with business and advertising degrees, the iPhone marketplace is one of the best places to apply four years of textbook knowledge. Alkali Media’s foray into the iPhone market has been focused on branded soundboards. The first of many soundboards has been deemed the “Crudebox.” Crudebox consists of 16 high-quality and mildly disgusting sounds. However, it does not contain any sounds more disgusting than the 30+ “I shit myself” applications currently found in the iTunes App Store. Naturally, it was assumed that the Apple would approve our application soon after it was submitted.

Six days after the first submission of Crudebox, we received an email stating:

We’ve reviewed CrudeBox and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it contains objectionable content and is in violation of Section 3.3.12 from the iPhone SDK Agreement which states:

“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 judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.”

Apparently the seemingly tame soundboard, bodily sound effect application was far too offensive for Apple’s strict moral guidelines. We unanimously agreed that maybe it was the female orgasm sound that set the app over the edge. The orgasm was replaced with a cartoon-like spring sound. The kind you hear when a male cartoon character finds himself awkwardly aroused. The application was submitted a second time. Seven Days later we received word that once again Crudebox was too obscene and offensive for the iTunes App Store. After moving past the inevitable feeling of frustration towards Apple, we decided to poke some fun at Apple’s app approval team. What if we were to submit the same sounds as before, except this time around we make the app look extra flamboyant and change the name to the ironically appropriate, Prudebox?

Eight days later we would received an e-mail from Apple stating that our recently submitted application, Prudebox, has passed the approval process and is now ready for sale. After a name change, and an overtly flamboyant reskin of the application (complete with a pink bunny and a a fleeting sunset), we were able to get our app approved. To this day, we’re still questioning what sort of quality assurance is in place for Apple’s quality assurance team. I’m sure you can only imagine what other quality apps you’ve been missing out on thanks to Apple’s ever-so-stringent approval process.

You can check out our flamboyantly fabulous Prudebox application in the iTunes App store by clicking here.