Best practice to build IOS app with restricted access

they asked me to build an iPad app for a clothes company, the client asked to have the application available only to resellers:

Since I think it is not possible to submit on the app store an app with usage restriction only to few allowed people, I thought about different options:

1. Bulding an app with some general info accessible by anyone, and adding a password protected section only for resellers.

2. Building a password protected web app

What do you think is the best solution?

I've got some doubts about both:

1. Are Apple reviewers going to approve an app with some password protected content? Do I need to provide apple the password to access prices information开发者_Go百科?

2. If I build a web app, is there a way to cache data to allow the content be accessed when offline? (I noticed that when the iPad is rebooted web app data get lost)

Thanks

Giuseppe

It is likely that such an app will be rejected from the app store because it is for a 'limited audience.'

But, you don't have to release it on the app store, you can instead develop an enterprise app which you can then only make available to your company employees and resellers. You are free to restrict distribution of this app to whomever you want or password protect it as you wish -- in any case it won't be available for download via general app store routes, but your company could make it available on a 'reseller-only' portion of their website for example.

Depending on how complicated you want the app to be, doing a website is another option. You are allowed a limited amount of persistent local storage in a sqlite database (one of the new features of html5), if the app is simple enough, this should work for you.

If the app can have enough general utility (maps to the nearest resellers, for instance), you can submit it to the App store with a demo account (which can have dummy data) for the password protected features.

But a web app that can be turned into a web clipping (custom icon, etc.) for a password protected site is another very good option.