App Store rules: Olive branch or air cover?

It's been more than two years since the App Store opened, and Apple has for the first time published a real set of rules for its army of third-party iOS developers.

On Thursday, Apple surprised many by posting significant changes to its developer license agreement (PDF) along with rules for those creating applications for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Most notably, Apple relented on the kinds of tools developers can use to create apps, which means Adobe's Flash compiler is back in, and changed its mind on how ad networks can be integrated into apps.

The 113 rules--penned in a tone that'll be familiar to many who watch Steve Jobs keynotes or read those e-mail responses he purportedly sent to customers--are direct, and on occasion slightly exasperated. When describing how Apple thinks about apps in general and why the company so closely guards its App Store gates, the introduction states, "If you want to criticize a religion, write a book. If you want to describe sex, write a book or a song, or create a medical app. It can get complicated, but we have decided to not allow certain kinds of content in the App Store."

The tone comes across almost as if Apple didn't really want to publish these rules at all. So why did it? The timing is certainly curious, since Apple rarely gives up information willingly about anything related to how the company works. The fact that regulators were sniffing around Apple's policies was likely a motivating factor. The FTC started asking questions in June about why certain developer tools and ad networks were banned from use in apps.

The gradual opening of the tightly guarded reviews process began a year ago. Last August--more than a year since allowing third-party apps--was the first time Apple went public with its App Store approval process, but that was only because the Justice Department wanted to know why it had rejected Google Voice from the App Store. In response, Apple illuminated the main cases for app rejection: buggy software, apps that crash too much, use of unauthorized APIs, privacy violation, inappropriate content for children, and anything that "degrades the core experience of the iPhone."