[wmf]

I guess you're talking about Find My Friends.

Apple either doesn't check or just doesn't care; see "iTV", "iPhone", and "IOS".

At this point you cannot go to market with the existing name. If you think your app is worth less than the cost of changing the name (really?) then admit to yourself that you weren't serious anyway and abandon it.

[imothee]

It's not that the app is worth less than the cost of changing the name. Though right now it seems a bit worthless to try and compete with Apple.

It's the fact that I thought I had made my intentions very clear of my intent to use the brand with Apple through iTunesConnect. Apart from releasing it I did everything else. Just feels like Apple didn't even care to look and it makes me question developing for their platform.

I kinda thought that the whole iOS platform was perfect for the little guys without needing the hassle of the cover your ass lawyers. Guess I was wrong, lesson learned the hard way.

[dholowiski]

If the app is on IOS by default, it's probably not worth competing with. But if it's in the app store and you have to click to download/buy it, then it's definetley worth competing with, if you can do better than Apple. All Apple does is raises the awareness and build the 'want' for that application for you.

Oh, and Apple is great for us small guys, the same way Paypal is. It's great, unless/until they decide to stomp on you and crush you, then it's not so great.

[chc]

What do you think a lawyer would do to stop Apple from releasing into a market before you manage to?