AppGratis CEO explains App Store removal, says Apple is destroying value in its ecosystem

After receiving some clarification from Apple last night over the removal of discovery app AppGratis, CEO Simon Dawalt is weighing in today with a statement posted on the AppGratis website explaining that the situation has been "absolutely crazy" to deal with:

And that is pretty much where we stand, still stunned that Apple took the decision to destroy so much value within their own ecosystem, but more than ever convinced that what we're doing is good, and accomplishing a much needed mission in a broken App Discovery world.

While explaining that App Gratis has gone through a number of rejections for breaking App Store guidelines in situations that were later resolved with Apple, Dawalt shed some light on what happened on Apple's side:

Early Monday, R. gave me a follow-up call. He basically couldn't go beyond repeating multiple times that our app had been pulled out due to guideline 2.25 and 5.6.

I asked how he and his team could have possibly changed their minds overnight, pretty much pulling the plug on a 45-person company. He seemed very detached regarding the gravity of the situation, and was unable to let me know on what specifics these decisions had been made.

For us, obviously, it's a hard hit. And as I'm about to push the 'publish' button on this story, I'm still in absolute shock as to what is happening to us.

Dawalt continued by saying the situation with Apple is "far from finished" and urged Apple to contact him to discuss the issue and users to spread the word. He also confirmed that the app's current 12 million users will have nothing to worry about going forward:

Even if our iOS apps are momentarily unavailable, your app recommendation service, AppGratis, is very much up and running. If you're part of the 12 million lucky people to have downloaded our app before last Friday, know that it will keep updating everyday with new free apps and cool discounts. So will our website, and so will our daily newsletter.

Our iOS apps may have been unavailable now for a few days, but at the same time, a few million free apps have been downloaded through AppGratis since last Friday. So for now, it's business as usual in AppGratis's world.

OS X 10.8.4 code confirms new Macs incoming with super-fast 802.11ac Gigabit wireless support

Apple is preparing to soon release new Mac computers that support super-fast 802.11ac Gigabit wireless, according to code-findings inside of Apple's latest OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.4 beta seed to developers. The code was located by a tipster inside of the operating system's WiFi-frameworks folder. As you can see in the image directly below, the 802.11ac code is not found in OS X 10.8.3, which is the latest public release of Apple's Mac operating system.

Previous reports have claimed that Apple is working with wireless chipmaker Broadcom to produce 802.11ac chips for future Macs. Now, it appears, Apple's software is ready to support the new wireless technology as well. More details below…

This 5th-generation wireless standard is more robust than the current WiFi technology used in Macs and other Apple products. 802.11ac offers extended range and improved WiFi speeds. Broadcom said as much in a press release from last year announcing the chipsets:

Broadcom's 5G WiFi dramatically improves the wireless range in the home, allowing consumers to watch HD-quality video from more devices, in more places, simultaneously. The increased speed enables consumers to download web content from a mobile device faster and quickly synch large files, such as videos, in a fraction of the time it would take on a similar 802.11n device. Since 5G WiFi transfers the same volume of data at a much faster rate, devices enter low-power mode faster, which results in significant power consumption advantages.

With 802.11ac support seemingly comes to Apple's Mac lines, it is not a stretch to believe that Apple will release compatible AirPort routers and iOS devices in the future.