Problem 1: the actual upload(s) of the XAP to App Hub just failed sporadically - we got an opaque error code which, when we looked it up, translated to essentially "either there's a problem with your language settings... or there was a random network error." Eventually it just worked, with no rhyme or reason - one out of every few times, it would get through.
Problem 2: the first time we were able to complete the submission, the app was rejected because we had marked it for worldwide distribution. Turns out the [free] app was barred from three countries (China and I forget the other two) because it had a few "inappropriate" images (of museum exhibits). OK, fine, some countries are censorship-happy - not MS' fault. So what does MS do? Reject the app wholesale (rather than just in the problematic countries). We resubmit (going through all the difficulties of #1 above), exclude the problematic countries from the "where do you want your app available" checkboxes... and wait as it goes through the full 5-business-day approval cycle.
Problem 3: OK, the app is certified and made it into the store! Woot! But wait - it has a pretty serious bug - can't play any audio! (It's a museum tour, so that's rather unfortunate!) The bug didn't exist in the version we tested (in the emulator and two real devices), and after several days of back-and-forth with MS, they acknowledged it was a bug in the "XAP ingestion" process (what App Hub does to your XAP once it's submitted). They suggested a workaround, which we implemented right away (it was trivial, albeit not-really-obvious). At that point - this is after talking to several-layers-up support engineers - we asked that they push our update to the store ASAP (given that it was their bug we were working around). The best they could do is "expedite" the certification/approval process, which still took 3 or 4 business days - which doesn't sound like a lot, but is pretty absurd given that the update fixed a showstopping bug which was the result of MS's own submission process.
All in all, it took several weeks from completion to actually appearing in the store - which is better than the App Store at its worst, but not exactly awesome... and, FWIW, we only started getting real answers after several layers of escalation (which I suppose isn't terribly unusual, but again, not really confidence-inspiring).
I had a similar experience when I was developing an app for my own use. At the time, you needed to be a registered developer to load your own applications on your phone. I grabbed the free 1-year student developer program they had and started the signup process. I couldn't get past verifying the account and linking my profile to the Marketplace.
Several support tickets later (weeks later), they come back and say because I had my Live account for such a long time, there were problems with upgrading the account over the years, and I should create a new account for app development. I did that, still had the same issue. Weeks later, I'm told that it's my browser that's causing the issue. After trying every version of every browser I have, weeks later I'm told they're having problems with student developer accounts.
By that time, the $10 sanctioned jailbreak was released, so I just dropped the issue. I didn't want my apps on the marketplace anyway, so I settled.
>So what does MS do? Reject the app wholesale (rather than just in the problematic countries).
Honestly, they can't really do that either or they would get complaints. "Our biggest market is China and they just removed it, Microsoft is stupid!" I know it can be frustrating but they have to go by developer intents first because then there is no guessing. It would be nice if they had a cleaner resubmission process though.
While I agree that it shouldn't be automatic, this isn't actually a relevant complaint as sending a message to the developer stating "your app was rejected for three countries, but can be deployed immediately elsewhere" makes a lot more sense that forcing you back through the 5-day approval process; not just for the developer, but for Microsoft as well: that time isn't cheap (especially for a free application).
Problem 1: the actual upload(s) of the XAP to App Hub just failed sporadically - we got an opaque error code which, when we looked it up, translated to essentially "either there's a problem with your language settings... or there was a random network error." Eventually it just worked, with no rhyme or reason - one out of every few times, it would get through.
Problem 2: the first time we were able to complete the submission, the app was rejected because we had marked it for worldwide distribution. Turns out the [free] app was barred from three countries (China and I forget the other two) because it had a few "inappropriate" images (of museum exhibits). OK, fine, some countries are censorship-happy - not MS' fault. So what does MS do? Reject the app wholesale (rather than just in the problematic countries). We resubmit (going through all the difficulties of #1 above), exclude the problematic countries from the "where do you want your app available" checkboxes... and wait as it goes through the full 5-business-day approval cycle.
Problem 3: OK, the app is certified and made it into the store! Woot! But wait - it has a pretty serious bug - can't play any audio! (It's a museum tour, so that's rather unfortunate!) The bug didn't exist in the version we tested (in the emulator and two real devices), and after several days of back-and-forth with MS, they acknowledged it was a bug in the "XAP ingestion" process (what App Hub does to your XAP once it's submitted). They suggested a workaround, which we implemented right away (it was trivial, albeit not-really-obvious). At that point - this is after talking to several-layers-up support engineers - we asked that they push our update to the store ASAP (given that it was their bug we were working around). The best they could do is "expedite" the certification/approval process, which still took 3 or 4 business days - which doesn't sound like a lot, but is pretty absurd given that the update fixed a showstopping bug which was the result of MS's own submission process.
All in all, it took several weeks from completion to actually appearing in the store - which is better than the App Store at its worst, but not exactly awesome... and, FWIW, we only started getting real answers after several layers of escalation (which I suppose isn't terribly unusual, but again, not really confidence-inspiring).