These do require a new purchase, however to help with upgrading we are discounting the price on these apps until April 15th.

• Texas Code of Criminal Procedure

• Texas Family Code

• Texas Health and Safety Code

• Texas Penal Code

• Texas Transportation Code

All of these apps have been updated with the statutes from the 82nd Legislature First Called Session.  We have also included some new features including:

Faster searches – It was quick already, but it’s even faster now.

Statutes are now separated into individual sections – this allows for finer grained search, since only matching sections will show up, and also allows for bookmarking an individual section.

Real-time section number searches – matching sections will show up as you type the section number into the search box

Email support – send a section of the code to an email address

Printing support – wireless printing is now supported.  Printing requires an airprint compatible printer

We have other improvements and new features planned that will be coming out as free updates, and, as always, welcome any comments or suggestions.

• 2012 CA Business and Professions Code
• 2012 CA Civil Code
• 2012 CA Fish and Game Code
• 2012 CA Harbors and Navigation Code
• 2012 CA Probate Code
• 2012 NY Alcoholic Beverage Control Law
• 2012 NY Civil Service Law
• 2012 NY Estates Powers and Trusts Law
• 2012 NY Judiciary Law

• 2012 CA Code of Civil Procedure
• 2012 CA Evidence Code
• 2012 CA Family Code
• 2012 CA Health & Safety Code
• 2012 CA Labor Code
• 2012 CA Welfare & Institutions Code

Richard from “Worldwide Developer Relations” at Apple just called to say that Apple will not be approving the rest of our 2012 releases.  Let this serve as a warning to any other businesses that are considering developing iOS Applications, or ones that like us have been successfully doing this in the app store since 2009.

Our first Arbitrary rejection was in 2011

Last year in 2011 we went through the same process where Apple was ready to shut down our business.  In the same arbitrary manner Apple approved some of our updated apps, then rejected others telling if we wanted to have them available it would need to be as ebooks in Apple’s new iBookstore.  This nearly shut our business down.  We filed a dispute with Apple – our Apps are reference sources most popular for their fast and powerful search capability, as well as ability to share/print statutes, etc.  These are not novels that a person reads page-by-page like a book. In the end Apple overturned their rejection and approved and published all of our 2011 updates.

One year later, and another arbitrary rejection in 2012

This year, again in an arbitrary manner, Apple approves some of our 2012 updates and rejects others.  Three were approved in December, then four were rejected in December, then seven were Approved in January, then six were rejected in January.

These are the exact same apps that were rejected and later approved for a different reason in 2011.  The exact same apps that were approved without issue in 2009 and 2010, and the exact same apps that Apple’s sales team is demoing on an ongoing basis to Law Enforcement to help sell their iPads and other devices.  In fact, in addition to individual sales, we had bulk institutional purchases of our apps in October and November of 2011, and in January of this year.

Can we remain in the App Store?

With Apple’s sales team demoing our products at the same time they are being randomly rejected by Apple’s review team it is very hard to find any sense in this.  We would like to continue development for Apple’s devices, but we require Apple’s support in doing this.  Having the support of Apple’s sales team is apparently not enough.

Apple’s review team has demanded that we combine our individual apps into a single app and use “In-App Purchases”.  This is a significant change – we will need to duplicate the multitasking features we get from from iOS (allow users to quickly and seamlessly switch from one statute to another while saving state, etc.), duplicate the features we get from the app store (notifications, secure downloads,  purchases, updates), make user interface changes so that this appears seamless, and inform our users about the changes.

These changes will require a multi-month development effort.  We have told Apple we are willing to do this for our 2013 releases, but that we need the 2012 releases to be approved now.  Apples actions have been completely arbitrary, while our releases and apps have been consistent since 2009.

Another issue is that the “In-App Purchase” model is not currently supported by Apple’s Volume Purchase Program.  We have had volume sales of our apps to law enforcement in Oct and Nov of 2011 as well as this month, Jan 2012. Apple is actively demoing our software to law enforcement agencies who in general would be expected to use Apple’s Volume Purchase Program to purchase our apps for their officers.

If Apple is going to demand significant design changes they need to provide a transition time to allow for development. Also in cases like this that would impact how people use and purchase our apps, we need a transition time to inform our users of the changes. Also any demands like this need to apply to all developers and all apps.  All of our competitors currently have individual apps in the app store, and Apples rejections that we experienced 2011 and 2012 were arbitrarily applied.

The discounts on our 2012 NY CPLR, 2012 NY Penal Law, and 2012 NY Vehicle & Traffic Law apps end Sunday, January 15th.

• 2012 CA Code of Civil Procedure
• 2012 CA Evidence Code
• 2012 CA Family Code
• 2012 CA Health and Safety Code
• 2012 CA Labor Code
• 2012 CA Welfare and Institutions Code

This puts our business at risk and is confusing to our users.  Since 2009 our users have been able to depend on getting updates from us for new laws, but Apple is making that impossible for 2012.  Not only are they making it impossible they are doing this in an inconsistent and confusing manner where some 2012 releases are approved without issue and others are rejected.

Unfortunately the only way to sell apps (without requiring users to jailbreak their devices) is through the Apple run app store.

If you would like to see our apps released including these and other updates for Texas, Louisiana, New York, Florida, or states we are not currently supporting please join our twitter page @PDAWizard, send us a message through the contact us link on our webpage, and/or consider sending an email to Apple’s CEO Tim Cook.

We just received a call from Richard of Apple’s Worldwide Developer Relations who told us that Apple will release another seven of our 2012 updates.

So this is progress, but we told Richard that we need to have all of our 2012 updates released (most immediately, for California, New York, and Texas).  Richard told us that it was a “one-time exception” for seven of our apps, but he will see what he can do and get back to us Monday.

Here’s to hoping that Apple will do the logical thing and release all of our 2012 updates rather than a random selection of them.

** Update: The seven apps Apple approved are now available in the app store.  While we are waiting for the rest, here are the seven that have just been approved and released.  To help with upgrading, the price for these apps will be discounted until January 20th:

1. 2012 CA Penal Code
2. 2012 CA Vehicle Code
3. 2012 NY Criminal Procedure Law
4. 2012 NY Domestic Relations Law
5. 2012 NY Family Court Act
6. 2102 NY Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act (SCPA)
7. 2012 NYPD Patrol Guide

After three years of submitting apps approved by Apple that our users liked, and having increasing sales year over year, this past Friday, December 23rd, we received a shocking message from Apple. Apple was rejecting our 2012 updates. This is despite the fact that we have been selling these same apps in the app store since 2009 and have an overall average rating of 4 stars from our users. This is especially disturbing and arbitrary given the fact that Apple is actively demoing these very same apps to law enforcement. In fact just last month we had a bulk sale of our apps to the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department through Apple’s new Volume Purchase Program.

Our Company’s History With Apple

We started selling legal reference apps in the app store in 2009. We originally polled a group of lawyers to find out how many of them were using iPhones and if they would be interested in having quick access to the legal statutes on their iPhone. The news wasn’t good — the blackberry was the phone of choice among lawyers and their firms.  We saw promise in the flexibility the iPhone offered and decided to pursue developing our apps. Hopefully we could help develop a market on the iPhone.

We founded our biggest success among law enforcement. They could use the fast search our apps provide to very quickly find infractions or reference the current laws.  Also more and more lawyers started purchasing iPhones and using our apps.  While they serve a niche market, our apps are very important to our users. Since the app store did not (and still does not) support paid upgrades we follow a business model of releasing new paid versions every year or two depending on when the majority of laws would are changed, and otherwise making free updates in between. If a user liked they could continue to use the older version on their phone. Only the new version would be available for sale in the app store.

2010 went well, and we were seeing a good increase in users as word of mouth about our apps spread. We started getting requests from law enforcement and lawyers around the country to “please add support for their state”. Then in October, 2010 things got really exciting – a request from apple to demo our software at trade shows and to police chiefs around the country:

From: Betsi L <apple.com>
Date: Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 12:20 PM
Subject: PDA Wizard: iPad applications
To: PDA Wizard Support <pdawiz.com>

I concentrate on the state/local and federal markets and show the iPad to several customers during sales calls and trade shows.

Would you be interested in sending me download codes to download your apps directly so that we may show your apps directly (at no charge)?  I’ve very willing to show your applications to show our law enforcement customers all of the applications available.

I appreciate your response asap.  I will be traveling the ICOP (Intl Chiefs of Police) in Orlando in 2 weeks so would appreciate your response prior to this date.

thank you

Betsi L
Govt Channel Manager

We happily provided Apple with copies of our apps, and we were getting good feedback from Apple’s sales team:

From: Ron U <apple.com>
Date: Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 10:21 AM
Subject: Re: PDA Wizard: iPad applications
To: PDA Wizard Support <pdawiz.com>

Hi Eli,

It went really well. I showed them your apps for the other agencies and they were interested. They’re deciding what their next steps will be, either a more in-depth followup meeting or pilots starting after the new year. They’re looking at deploying iPads to patrol officers.

Thanks.

Ron

In 2011 we released our updated apps for the New Year and things continued to increase compared to the previous two years. Sales were growing, reviews were good, our apps were showing up in the Apple’s lists of top reference apps, and more police departments were looking at making our apps available directly to their officers. Just two months ago we received a question from the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department asking how they could do a bulk purchase of our apps. I contacted Betsi at Apple to find out about the process:

From: PDA Wizard Support <pdawiz.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 4:01 PM
Subject: Re: PDA Wizard: iPad applications
To: Betsi L <apple.com>

Hi Betsi,

We just received an inquiry from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department regarding a bulk purchase of our apps.  I did receive a notice from Apple in June that support for bulk purchases was coming, but I am not sure of the procedure for this or who I should contact about it.  Can you give me a reference to someone that can answer questions about this and help the SBCSD through the process?

And we got this encouraging reply that apple was still demoing our software in addition to the info we needed about Apple’s Volume Purchase Program:

From: Betsi L <apple.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 7:24 PM
Subject: Re: PDA Wizard: iPad applications
To: PDA Wizard Support <pdawiz.com>

Eli

good news – I hope it was because they saw us demonstrate your apps in a recent california MISAC show

Here’s the info on the VPP for Apps

http://www.apple.com/business/vpp/

attachment: VPP_Business_Guide_US.pdf

I’m happy to report that just last month they did complete the volume purchase of our apps.

Our 2012 Updates… And Spam?

Earlier this month we started releasing the 2012 versions of our New York apps. The 2012 releases of our NY Penal Law, Vehicle & Traffic Law, and Civil Practice Law & Rules were approved by Apple’s review team on Dec 8th and went on sale in the app store just like had happened for our 2009, 2010, and 2011 releases. Business as usual. But something funny happened with the rest of our 2012 releases for New York.

On Dec 13th, just 5 days after the first of our 2012 NY releases were approved, Apple notified us that the rest of our 2012 updates were being rejected. Not only were they being rejected, but they were considered spam and apple threatened to revoke our developer license:

Binary Rejected Dec 13, 2011 10:49 AM
Reasons for Rejection:

• 2.20: Developers “spamming” the App Store with many versions of similar apps will be removed from the iOS Developer Program

Dec 13, 2011 10:49 AM. From Apple.

Obviously there was a mistake here. These are successful apps in the app store with great reviews from happy loyal users. Not “spam”. Many of our users would buy more than one of our apps to cover different areas of law. The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Dept purchased four different apps as part of their volume purchase. Apple’s sales team was actively demoing our apps, and we were entering our fourth year of selling these Apps in the app store.

We have had lots of requests to make our apps available on Android, but so far had kept all of our eggs in Apple’s basket. This isn’t a bizarro world. Apple wouldn’t approve our Apps for three years (2009, 2010, 2011), then approve our 2012 releases one week in December, and reject them as “spam” the following week. Especially not while Apple’s sales team is demoing our apps across the country. With Apple’s 30% cut of our sales and all the hardware being purchased to run our apps Apple is making more money off of our apps then we are.  Obviously it was a mistake, so we filed an appeal of the rejection and reminded Apple of all this.

Then last Friday, December 23rd, we received a call from Richard from Apple’s “Worldwide Developer Relations” team who very nonchalantly told us that our appeal was rejected. Our apps were considered spam and the 2012 releases would not be made available to our users… To Apple’s users!

Shock! Betrayal! How could this be?  It is a bizarro world!

Richard said that Apple just wanted to be “consistent”.  Consistent?  Consistency would be having our apps remain on sale as they have been for the past three years.  Consistency is not approving our updates one week in December, then rejecting them the following week. Consistency is not having your sales team demo our apps to sell iPads to law enforcement at the same time you are threatening to remove us from the iOS Developer Program for writing them.  Richard also told that “Rules change all the time”.  Oh, yes, then at the end of our call Richard said “uh, have a good holiday weekend”… Thanks Richard.

If this is what Apple considers consistent, they should review Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.” Apple’s inconsistent consistency runs counter to the excellent reviews we have received for these apps and is an absolute disservice to their users.

Hope For A More “Consistent” Apple

Next week we are supposed to release our 2012 California Apps.  The same as we have done since 2009.  We’ve been getting questions for the past few months about when our 2012 California Apps would be available, and our answer has always been “early January”.  We have sold tens of thousands of copies of our apps and have a lot of loyal users waiting to buy our 2012 releases.  We hope that Apple makes a New Year’s resolution to be “consistent” and releases our apps as they have in previous years.  We’d hate to disappoint them!

Some of our recent reviews…

Here’s a sampling of some of our reviews.  The first one was left on the very day Richard told us Apple would not release our 2012 updates. If you would like to see more, please read our Testimonials page.

2011 NYPD Patrol Guide:
12/23/2011 – 5 stars “Oscar” It is the best thing
12/21/2011 – 5 stars “Very helpful” Comes in real handy when you’re out on patrol and you need a quick reference
12/15/2011 – 5 stars “Best thing on my iPhone” Awesome for patrol. No more guessing…get it now
12/6/2011 – 4 stars “Excellent” Great app, searchable feature is fantastic

2011 NY Penal Law
11/4/11 – 5 stars “Sick wit it” I use it at work almost every day.. Awesome .. I hope it has automatic updates
10/16.2011 – 4 stars “Great app!!!!”
9/25/2011 – 5 stars “Very good!” Works very well, love the search and bookmark features. Hoping I won’t have to pay the full shot for updates every year… But the app beats carrying books everywhere. I use PL, VTL and CPL, all run great.
9/7/2011 – 5 stars “Outstanding resource. I have the most updated set of laws in the department.”
8/27/2011 – 5 stars “Finally, GREAT SEARCH TOOLS” Finally a Penal Law App that has a great search tool for Police Officers! Type in any part of the Penal Law and you’re at the Section! So much better than your competitor which made me want to throw my phn off the wall during arrests! Get this App! Worth the $5.99 !

2011 CA Code of Civil Procedure
12/11/2011 – 5 stars “It’s the little things” If your an attorney or not and you work in the court room you want this app! Much easier than carrying around a 5 pound book in your case. Just the look on the other party’s face when you email them the code or print it out in court to show the judge that makes your case, no thats priceless.
11/1/2011 – 5 stars “Ease of use” The search component makes it easy o locate all applicable code sections quickly. I highly recommend this app for attorneys practicing in California.
1/9/2011 – 5 stars “Complete and easy to use” The code is complete, the application runs fast, and the keyword index is very efficient. A very good buy for the price. Because the entire code is stored, you need not be connected to the Internet.