09-12-18 Update: Many people pointed out, that there is a remote chance that the coords really show the tester’s home location. To protect her/him I have jittered the address / the location slightly.

Our first iPhone App ‘CabChap’ for the global taxi dispatch cabchap.com has been released today to the Apple app store. The app makes it possible to find nearby cab drivers with a single click. It differs from other offers out there by contacting the drivers directly (in the near term), instead on having an intermediary – aka dispatch – in between.

Facts (all times UTC):

It took exactly seven days to get the app in the store, after I finally released it for review. I uploaded the binary on 09/12/10 approx 3pm and got the mail stating ‘Your application is Ready for Sale’ on 09/12/17 approx. 11pm.

Being a server based app, it is possible to learn when and where tested the app has been tested with what devices. Below you will find the complete log file for your own conclusions. Here are my derived findings from the logs:

Testing commenced 2009-12-11 23:06:47 from a real device at this place: Lowell Dr, Santa Clara, CA 95051, USA with this reverse address: 166-205-135-185.mobile.mymmode.com which in turn stands for a cingular ip.

That means the preliminary testing starts quite early, after 1,5 days the first reviewer checked the basic app functionality on a real device. If you take a look around this address it seems like Apple outsourced the testing to people working from home! WTF? It may be, that the location data is fake, but then again there is characteristic jitter around this location, it seems real to me!

In the next two minutes the app ran on two different devices. Manual location entry was tested as well from an IP which is assigned to Apple (at least according this whois: http://whois.domaintools.com/17.227.47.226). Maybe a VPN to Apple HQ at Infinite Loop? Or the location data is fake…

(Glad everything seemed to work so far).

Testing for today ended 2009-12-11 23:08:48. A real short stint!

Two days, nothing happened, then on 2009-12-14 23:55:27 testing commenced from Tantau Ave, Cupertino, CA 95014, USA, which at least approximately resembles Apple new campus. Testing goes strong for approx 90 secs with yet another real device, then stops. Apple Apple IPs, so I guess this is corporate WLAN.

Finally, last testing on 2009-12-17 21:18:31 from Junipero Serra Fwy, Cupertino, CA 95014, USA, either fake or somebody driving to HQ? That’s it, at 23:14 I received my stamp of approval.

You can download the app for free here: iTunes App Store.

After ten requests and approx 10 minutes of total testing the app went live. For sure, the CabChap app is quite simple, so for heavy hitters the testing profile will definitively look differently.

Here is the detailed log:

Processing IphoneController#passenger (for 166.205.135.185 at 2009-12-11 23:06:47) [GET]

Parameters: {“latitude”=>”37.32″, “uuid”=>”2456e145d730a092141d18c8c5ebc5f4b20ede53″, “longitude”=>”-122.00″}

Completed in 1664ms (View: 220, DB: 48) | 200 OK [http://www.cabchap.com?uuid=2456e145d730a092141d18c8c5ebc5f4b20ede53&latitude=37.32&longitude=-122.00]

Processing IphoneController#passenger (for 166.205.135.185 at 2009-12-11 23:07:44) [GET]

Parameters: {“latitude”=>”37.32″, “uuid”=>”2456e145d730a092141d18c8c5ebc5f4b20ede53″, “longitude”=>”-122.01″}

Completed in 1704ms (View: 16, DB: 48) | 200 OK [http://www.cabchap.com?uuid=2456e145d730a092141d18c8c5ebc5f4b20ede53&latitude=37.32&longitude=-122.01]

Processing IphoneController#passenger (for 166.205.135.185 at 2009-12-11 23:08:16) [GET]

Parameters: {“commit”=>”Find Cabs”, “query_address”=>”J unipero Serra Fwy, Cupertino, CA 95014, USA”}

Completed in 552ms (View: 12, DB: 48) | 200 OK [http://www.cabchap.com?query_address=J+unipero+Serra+Fwy%2C+Cupertino%2C+CA+95014%2C+USA&commit=Find+Cabs]

Processing IphoneController#passenger (for 17.227.47.226 at 2009-12-11 23:08:24) [GET]

Parameters: {“latitude”=>”37.33″, “uuid”=>”8e793876dd64fc4221f82a500e628f7d73630674″, “longitude”=>”-122.00″}

Completed in 1724ms (View: 16, DB: 44) | 200 OK [http://www.cabchap.com?uuid=8e793876dd64fc4221f82a500e628f7d73630674&latitude=37.33&longitude=-122.00]

Processing IphoneController#passenger (for 17.227.47.226 at 2009-12-11 23:08:43) [GET]

Parameters: {“commit”=>”Find Cabs”, “query_address”=>”Tantau Ave, Cupertino, CA 95014, USA”}

Completed in 764ms (View: 16, DB: 48) | 200 OK [http://www.cabchap.com?query_address=Tantau+Ave%2C+Cupertino%2C+CA+95014%2C+USA&commit=Find+Cabs]

Processing IphoneController#passenger (for 166.205.135.185 at 2009-12-11 23:08:48) [GET]

Parameters: {“commit”=>”Find Cabs”, “query_address”=>”Junipero Serra Fwy, Cupertino, CA 95014, USA”}

Completed in 636ms (View: 16, DB: 48) | 200 OK [http://www.cabchap.com?query_address=Junipero+Serra+Fwy%2C+Cupertino%2C+CA+95014%2C+USA&commit=Find+Cabs]

Processing IphoneController#passenger (for 17.227.47.62 at 2009-12-14 23:55:27) [GET]

Parameters: {“latitude”=>”0.000000″, “uuid”=>”cd1a92ab73ab6068933d828724c7f4ae476af72e”, “longitude”=>”0.000000″}

Completed in 580ms (View: 56, DB: 40) | 200 OK [http://www.cabchap.com?uuid=cd1a92ab73ab6068933d828724c7f4ae476af72e&latitude=0.000000&longitude=0.000000]

Processing IphoneController#passenger (for 17.227.47.62 at 2009-12-14 23:55:53) [GET]

Parameters: {“latitude”=>”37.32″, “uuid”=>”cd1a92ab73ab6068933d828724c7f4ae476af72e”, “longitude”=>”-122.00″}

Completed in 1404ms (View: 16, DB: 52) | 200 OK [http://www.cabchap.com?uuid=cd1a92ab73ab6068933d828724c7f4ae476af72e&latitude=37.32&longitude=-122.00]

Processing IphoneController#passenger (for 17.227.47.62 at 2009-12-14 23:56:54) [GET]

Parameters: {“latitude”=>”37.33″, “uuid”=>”b7c61e39f88eb71cd35ca454b656a2756fa827a4″, “longitude”=>”-122.00″}

Completed in 1652ms (View: 152, DB: 44) | 200 OK [http://www.cabchap.com?uuid=b7c61e39f88eb71cd35ca454b656a2756fa827a4&latitude=37.33&longitude=-122.00]

Processing IphoneController#passenger (for 166.205.131.29 at 2009-12-17 21:18:31) [GET]

Parameters: {“latitude”=>”37.32″, “uuid”=>”9e801bd2d76bc30e9e2670991c0074b70594a428″, “longitude”=>”-122.01″}

Completed in 1724ms (View: 60, DB: 48) | 200 OK [http://www.cabchap.com?uuid=9e801bd2d76bc30e9e2670991c0074b70594a428&latitude=37.32&longitude=-122.01]