WhitePages goes Android first with latest app

There's a simple reason for that. Although WhitePages still sees iPhone owners as a key target, Apple's approval process is just too difficult to time a launch around. As evidence, the Seattle company notes that one of its apps, a reverse phone look-up directory, has been in Apple's hands for the past two months awaiting approval. So, this time around, the company decided to go Android first.
"I think we are going to see a lot of people start to ship Android first," WhitePages Chief Operating Officer Kevin Nakao told AllThingsD. "You can't be held hostage."
Localicious isn't the first app that WhitePages did first for Android. The company also has launched a Caller ID app for Android after finding, like others that wanted to offer such a service for iPhone, that Apple wouldn't allow the needed access.
Even when Apple does approve apps, it generally doesn't give a clear enough time frame to fully plan a launch, Nakao said.
"Marketing an application becomes increasingly important given the number of apps that are being published," Nakao said, noting that the company wants to time its product launches with a PR campaign as well as mobile, Web and social media advertising campaigns. "Since apps can still get tied up in the iOS approval process, it makes this marketing planning almost impossible."