In what could probably only be described as a short-lived adventure, Apple has killed the official Coinbase application from the iOS App Store. The app, launched in late October, allowed users to buy, sell, and keep the app as an online wallet.
At this time, it is unclear just why Apple removed the app, but it obviously has something to do with violation of App Store rules. Unfortunately, Apple tends to be sketchy on this front, and even developers are left with their mouths open:
“The app initially got rejected multiple times, for many different reasons (not related to the quality of the app),” said Coinbase’s Craig Hammell on Hacker News. “My feeling is that they were trying to find excuses not to accept this kind of app. During the first few months, I had to disable the payment function (making the app pretty much useless). Ultimately, I rebuilt the whole app, and integrated it directly with Windows Phone’s Wallet (think Passbook). I’m still not sure why, but they accepted it right away.”
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says the company has gotten in touch with Apple to get concrete reasoning for the app eviction (source). We’ll update you accordingly as more information becomes available.
