Apple publishes official App Store review guidelines

Shortly after an offical announcement, Apple has published the criteria by which all apps are judged. And it is refreshingly, comically frank at times - as exemplified in what is basically a preface to the guidelines:

• "We have lots of kids downloading lots of apps, and parental controls don't work unless the parents set them up (many don't). So know that we're keeping an eye out for the kids."
• "We have over 250,000 apps in the App Store. We don't need any more Fart apps."
• "We have lots of serious developers who don't want their quality Apps to be surrounded by amateur hour."
• "If your app is rejected, we have a Review Board that you can appeal to. If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps."
• "This is a living document, and new apps presenting new questions may result in new rules at any time. Perhaps your app will trigger this."
• "If it sounds like we're control freaks, well, maybe it's because we're so committed to our users and making sure they have a quality experience with our products."

As hinted in the second bullet point above, it seems that Apple is preparing to clean up some of the clutter in the App Store. One of the more interesting rules is explained thusly:

Apps that duplicate apps already in the App Store may be rejected, particularly if there are many of them.

That could mean that the dozens of Twitter clients and camera apps out there could be whittled down to a select few if they provide the same basic functionality.

Check out the complete set of rules in the following downloadable PDF.