Getting a iPhone OS 2.2.1 app approved after the OS 3.0 release

Question

I’m writing a new iPhone app which doesn’t depend on any of the 3.0 APIs. 2.2.1 should work fine and has a substantially larger user base currently and in the near future as last I checked Apple was expecting iPod Touch owners to cough up $10 to upgrade to 3.0. That leaves a nontrivial number of cheap users who will stay with 2.2.1 as long as they can.

So my goal is to build and release this app using 2.2.1. I know that all app store submissions must run on 3.0, and I plan to do plenty of testing on 3.0. The language on the iPhone OS 3.0 Readiness Checklist leaves me optimistic, but will Apple continue to accept 2.2.1 app submissions (and for how long?), or will they laugh manically and reject any 2.2.1 apps simply to force 3.0?

The main question:

Has anyone on SO released a 2.2.1 compatible app after 3.0 was released and had it accepted (or explicitly rejected with 3.0 being the reason)?

Answer 1

They won't reject a 2.2.1 app unless it fails during 3.0 testing. You should be all set.

Answer 2

You must test it against both 2.2.1 and 3.0 then I can't see any problems - but I wouldn't assume it will work with both - you must test!

Answer 3

Why would they ever stop supporting apps that run in 2.2.1, provided they run in 3.0? You are just not taking advantage of new features, not building a fundamentally different app.

Answer 4

well now it has changed a little. New apps usually come only for iphone OS 3.0 as well as other iphone OS 3.0 approved apps that now longer support 2.2.1 so like for my reson i need the iphone 3.0 software update for ipod touch as for almost every app i want to get doesn't support 2.2.1

Answer 5

My own app (Task Coach) was built for 2.2.1 (on the 3.0 SDK, but that's irrelevant) and was approved last week, so go for it.