With all the time and energy spent on the recent iPad launch, the House of Jobs still has time for complete and utter randomness when it comes to regulating what goes into the App Store.

A recent App Store Tip warned developers that submitted apps which "use location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user's location" are likely to get the old heave-ho (Keep in mind that applies to non-location type apps only.  i.e. Yelp is fine, Free Game is not).  What's NOT mentioned is that Apple themselves are plunging headfirst into the location-based ad-targeting biz; after trying unsuccessfully to gobble up AdMob (Google beat 'em to it), they quietly settled on another mobile ad company (Quattro).  Many developers depend on embedded ad code to help amortize the cost of creating a program, as well as being able to offer it for little to no money.  The logical conclusion here is that Apple wants to control (and profit from) the adverts that appear on their devices, as well as customizing the ad experience based on where you are.

But base avarice alone can't explain this next tidbit: App developer Flash of Genius received a nastygram from Apple's legal beagles, insisting that they removed the phrase “Finalist in Google’s Android Developer’s Challenge!” from the App Store description.  Huffed Apple, "Providing future platform compatibility plans or other general platform references are not relevant in the context of the iPhone App Store."  Regardless of the fact that the phrase had reportedly boosted FoG's sales of the app, they reluctantly removed the offending verbiage.

And you wonder why Google wants to put a Nexus One in service on every cell network in the US of A...

What is most interesting about the text based iPhone MMO RPG phenomena that was kicked off with free iPhone games like iMob Online and iMafia is how their success has been manipulated by App Store developers.  These series, of which there are dozens now, have been incredibly successful because of their synthesis of long standing play and brief moments of attention.  Each of these titles requires only a few moments at strategic times throughout the day, and at the same time you constantly move forward and compete against other players.  After iMob Online brought a certain amount of success The Godfather, PlayMesh, Zynga, Storm8, and others came out in force.  New titles with the exact same format as the developers previous incarnations became standard as the releases became more and more frequent.  Success within most of these free iPhone games is based on sharing your respective Friend Codes around as much as possible.  Each player is assigned a Friend Code, which come come by several names like Army Code or Mob Code.  Other players use these Friend Codes to add you to their crew, giving them strength to buy property, complete missions, and win in battles with other players.  Websites began sprouting up all over the place simply as areas for people to share their Friend Codes as widely as possible, and eventually parasitic iPhone application developers created applications that do the same thing.  This may seem like a good idea at first, but in reality these paid iPhone applications are relatively useless and do not bring much more than you could get easier and for free online. 

The Code Booster series was one of the most pervasive of these Friend Code applications and they were releasing Friend Code applications for most of the major text based iPhone MMO RPGs.  Each one retailed for an average of two dollars, and none were even worth that amount.  Most of these text based iPhone MMO RPGs compliment you with free promotional offers when you play more than one title, so it is not uncommon for someone to play three or more of these text based iPhone MMO RPGs.  In an effort to be the most central source for Friend Codes around these games Tristran Gordan has release Code Booster All in 1, which is the annoying Friend Code application to rule them all.  With Code Booster All in 1 you will get a unity between all the previous Code Booster applications in one application.  Don't worry, the price was added to as well. 
Code Booster All in 1 really acts as a hub where people share their Friend Codes for each of the titles they play.  This means that access to the Friend Codes really depends on the number of people actually using the application and website.  Most people understand very quickly that paying $5.99 for an iPhone application to share your Friend Codes in a free iPhone game is nuts at best.  This means that over all the number of Friend Codes that you will have access to is relatively small, especially when compared with the price.  People are welcome to add their Friend Code at the Code Booster website, and this may be a good idea for those that already play.  Do not let this lead you to believe that people are heading here in force as other message boards have become much more reliable and pervasive. 
The number of games that is represented by Code Booster All in 1 is remarkable, however.  Turf Wars, Pets Live, Epic Pet Wars, Epic Soldier Wars, Gunshock Racing, iMob Online, Race or Die, Girl Wars Online, Ninjas Live, and iVampires Online are only some of the text based iPhone MMO RPGs that are a part of this.  The failure of Code Booster All in 1 is not dependent on the number of games that are in place.  Instead the lack of usefulness in comparison to price is the main issue.

When you open up Code Booster All in 1 you look at different Friend Codes that have been added by different players online.  You have to enter these Friend Code in your respective game to send the friend request to the other player.  This means that you will see the Friend Code in Code Booster, have to write it down, then open up the game and enter in the Friend Code.  A more efficient version of this task would be to simply look at a web service and enter in the Friend Codes in the open game as quickly as possible.  This process is both faster and free, which renders the basic function of Code Booster obsolete right from the beginning.  No matter how nice the interface is and how many games and players are a part of it there will still be less use for it than a free website.

You can easily pay the six dollars to get Code Booster All in 1, and you may find it briefly useful.  Instead you can choose not to validate empty iPhone applications that permeate around the iTunes' App Store and eat up the spare dollars that could be spent on more rewarding software.  Almost any of the iPhone applications are rewarding when paired up to exploitive novelties like Code Booster All in 1.