Two weeks ago we reported several developers were facing issues with Mac App Store submissions, as they weren’t able to register their app’s name in iTunes Connect. At that time it looked like “name squatters” were sitting on popular app names to force developers to pick different ones, but it turned out that a major issue was lying in Apple’s system itself.
Two weeks ago, in fact, developers who had already submitted an app to the iOS App Store with a certain name weren’t able to use that same name in the Mac App Store registering process. Imagine the frustration of developers who already had iPhone apps in the App Store and wanted to submit Mac counterparts to the upcoming store.
Name squatting surely is a problem Apple hasn’t completely fixed yet, but by allowing developers to use the same name across two different stores the engineering team at Cupertino is going in the right direction. As seen in the Mac App Store submission FAQ for developers:
When I tried to submit my app a few days ago, iTunes Connect said my app name was already in use. This FAQ said this was a known problem and I should wait to resubmit. Should I continue to wait?
No, this issue has been fixed and you can now submit apps with identical names in the iOS App Store and Mac App Store.
Many developers in the Apple’s dev forums reported they have been able to successfully register app names after the change in Apple’s system. This will help devs who want to release the same app on multiple devices without having to add the “for iPhone” or “for Mac” suffix.
The Mac App Store is set to open in two months.
