We were just talking about this yesterday on the latest Minnov8 Gang podcast — the whining we’re starting to hear from some developers whose iPhone apps are being rejected by Apple. Now today we’re seeing stories pop up on the topic: Of Course You’ll Keep Developing For The iPhone (TechCrunch) and Blockage on iPhone Apps Begins to Properly Annoy Developers (The Guardian), to name two. 
I would only say what I said yesterday: read Apple’s iPhone Developer Agreement. How many developer’s really do, I wonder? I’ve read it, and it’s not that hard to get through — though it is long (around 30 pages, as I recall). It’s written in very clear, simple English — not so much in "legalese," as you might expect. I can’t imagine there isn’t something in there that says Apple can reject apps that could be deemed competitive to them or damaging in some other way to their business. There is language in the agreement, as I recall, that Apple can reject apps for certain stated reasons — and, I suspect they also say somewhere it can reject them for no reason at all, at its sole discretion. That’s the kind of agreements lawyers write, and Apple has a very good legal department.
So, to all those who aspire to develop for this platform, and don’t wish to have their apps rejected — read the agreement and, if you don’t understand it, get legal help. Knowing what you’re getting into up front is always a good idea. If you don’t like what you read, then don’t do it. It could save you a lot of whining later.
“Some developers demand Apple try to communicate better, lest they assume the worst of the platform vendor. While that sounds plenty reasonable at face value, given the curatorial demands on the fledgling state of the App Store platform and Apple’s overall reliance on product-plan secrecy, we shouldn’t realistically expect Apple to ‘open up’ anytime soon,” as I explain in:
Resolved: Apple is right to curate the App Store
http://counternotions.com/2008/09/15/app-store/