The Apple App Store is a digital application distribution platform for iOS apps maintained by Apple Inc. Users can browse through the App Store and install applications directly to an iOS device. Although Apple envisions the App Store to be a global product, in reality its market is restricted by national boundaries. In other words, there are potentially as many distinct App Stores as there are countries in the world. To publish an app through the Apple App Store, you need to have an Apple Developer account (http://developer.apple.com/programs/register) and be a member of the iOS Developer Program (http://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/; the cost is $99 per year). The first step is to register an app ID with the developer portal and then you have to create the development and distribution certificates.

Then, you need to set up a distribution certificate. To do this, you will first need to generate a certificate request from your computer and then upload it to the developer portal. On a Mac, you should do this by opening the Keychain Access application available in Utilities and then go to Keychain Access | Certificate Assistant | Request a Certificate from a Certificate Authority. Enter your e-mail address and name and select Request is Saved to disk to save the CertificateSigningRequest.certSigningRequest file on your desktop. Go to the developer portal, upload the certificate request, and complete the steps required to generate the distribution certificate.

When the certificate is ready, you can create a new distribution provisioning profile by selecting the app you want to submit and the certificate to use. Download the file and in Xcode, select Window | Organizer, click on Devices, select Provisioning Profiles, and drag the provisioning profile with the .mobileprovision extension to the Organizer. Next, open the build settings pane and set the code-signing identity; in this way, the app is then code signed when you create an archive and you can complete the publication procedure using Xcode. When submitting the app, you will also be required to provide a description, several screenshots, icons, and other information. For details, refer to the online documentation at https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/IDEs/Conceptual/AppDistributionGuide/Introduction/Introduction.html.

Presenting a simple version of your app as first release will help to speed up the approval process a little bit. It's the initial app approval process that takes the most time; once approved, future updates are far easier to get done. So keep the advanced features for later releases of your app.

Visit http://www.raywenderlich.com/8003/how-to-submit-your-app-to-apple-from-no-account-to-app-store-part-1 for a detailed tutorial on publishing an app to Apple App Store.