[augustus]

Does the time depend on the category you are posting to?

I got a productivity webapp approved in one week last July.

I will be posting another finance app to the app store but I don't expect huge delays because its not in the hugely popular game section.

Am I wrong?

[timburks]

No, I think you're right. There seem to be separate queues for different categories.

[pmjordan]

I suspect that the amount of content that ships with the app is a factor: all text, images, sounds, etc. presumably have to be reviewed. I've never dealt with the iPhone app submission process, but you have a similarly arduous validation process with video game consoles. Except they've been doing it for decades so they've probably smoothed out more of the kinks.

[pcm]

I recently had a game approved and the entire review process took less than 4 days. After it was approved, it took about 6 hours for it to show up in the store.

This was my first app so I figured I'd be waiting at least a few weeks. I was happy (and very surprised) to see it accepted so quickly.

I have no real idea of what causes the varying review times.

[siong1987]

webapp is usually easier than real apple app which may have the potential to crash the whole iphone OS.

[timburks]

I've never heard that web apps require approval. Probably a typo? Also, it would be nearly impossible to "crash the whole iphone OS." An app runs in a sandbox, the worst thing it could crash is itself.

[augustus]

No typo, timburks.

Before the app store debut around July 2007, web apps was the only way to develop for the iphone.

With Webapps, Apple simply place your application on their http://www.apple.com/webapps page and gives you a chance to promote yourself.

Apple does not seem to promote those web apps as much as they should.