If you submit your app to the App Store, Apple can do what they want with it. Will they approve it? Maybe, if you follow the rules. Will they promote it? Maybe, if you adopt the latest technologies, but probably not. Will you be removed from the store when you try to submit an update? Maybe, if your reviewer is in a bad mood. Here’s John Vorhees of MacStories on this issue:

I don’t know a developer who hasn’t had a run-in with App Review and wondered, ‘Maybe this is it. This is where my my app dies.’ That may sound a little dramatic, but read the results of Graham Spencer’s poll of developers– the feeling is real.

I can imagine that some at Apple may roll their eyes at this as an overreaction, or be a little offended at the implied lack of trust, but step into developers’ shoes. In the absence of meaningful communication by Apple of its intentions, it’s stories like the Reddit client take-downs that shape developers’ behavior. And as Federico noted, it’s not like this is an isolated story, it’s one of a long string of similar stories that make developers jumpy.

I was recently at a developer meet-up where the speaker was talking about external dependancies, like third-party libraries and services, like Parse or Facebook. The audience figuratively nodded in easy approval. But when this transitioned to “Who here trusts Apple?” and the claim that “Apple is our biggest dependency”, the uneasiness was palpable.

The App Store is not open-source or ruled by public committee: it is Apple’s. By and large, they do any excellent job in moderating quality and exercise fairness in enforcing the rules. But as with all rule enforcement, it can’t be done perfectly. If you want fair and equal, you should make your app open-source. If you want to charge money, Apple are taking their cut. And this is fair, considering their investment and effort in creating the platform.

But it would be nice to get paid upgrades and a Mac App Store that works.