If there's one consistent complaint from iPhone developers it's the impenetrable pillbox that is the App Store submissions system.

Quite out of the blue, one of Apple's senior executives got involved the other day over the continuing difficulties faced by dictionary app Ninjawords. His direct involvement was mainly to stem the flow of criticism aimed at Apple, but he also took the opportunity to demonstrate that the company was listening to feedback - even if it hadn't previously answered.

It now turns out Schiller has been in contact with another disgruntled iPhoner, Steven Frank, who boycotted the device over the unanswered difficulties he'd faced when dealing with Apple's outlet.

Although the details of the entire conversation haven't been given out, it seems Schiller made contact simply to reassure the developer that Apple was listening and craves feedback.

The real issues are probably to do with Apple's obsessively controlling nature, as many devs suspect, but considering the 65,000 apps and over a billion downloads inside of a year, managing the App Store is undoubtedly a megalithic task. The truth is, Apple was probably quite unprepared for the immediacy of the iPhone's success (who predicted it? No one, that's who) and is still reeling.

That Schiller is speaking out bodes well for internal improvements, but it's never going to be a simple job.