40k apps in the app store, yeah thats amazing, but not if 35k of them are cons.

So is that 50,000 apps figure a bit of a stretch?

I think your percentages are just about right on the money.

I'm amazed at the number of flashlights. Especially since a blank page in Safari serves the same purpose.

Just wishful thinking on my part. ) I'm constantly amazed that people waste time making junk like iFart and similar completely useless apps. What's even more amazing is that there are actually mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging morons out there that buy the trash. It's just more proof that we're doomed as a species.

Why would they do that? It would get rid of 99% of the apps in the app store.

While as a publisher, this is absolutely within Apple’s rights

First I don't believe this is technically true, regardless of what the developer's agreement says. Microsoft has already been beaten up on this score and lost in court when they tried to impose use restrictions on MSDN users and beta testers.

In the US, and presumably Canada as well, when you get a business license, you surrender some of you absolute rights in exchange for the right to conduct business in society.

Apple can not kick Whites, Jews, Stinky, Ugly, Deaf, or poor people out of their stores. Yet I could kick any one of these off my lawn. Safeway can not dictate to candy companies that all candy in Safway stores must be packaged in RED. You can not force customers or employees or delivery boys to wear yarmulkes in your Kosher Deli.

Apple, like every other brick and mortar company, has less than total rights to manage their own stores and their web sites and products.

This was explained to my by a friend, (at the time a District Attorney, who is now the Attorney General of a western state).

Apple's phone is a general purpose computer with a phone bolted on. It runs a version of the same OS as their desktop computers and notebooks.

There is no other general purpose computer platform on earth where the manufacturer retains the total and arbitrary right to control ALL software on the device.

IBM and Microsoft don't controls the software you can run on your mainframe or PCs.

But Apple, by refusing to allow third party software onto the machine unless it goes thru iTunes, and then rejecting apps for arbitrary and capricious reasons is treading dangerously close to Illegal Restraint of Trade.

I want to run Software X. Software X Vendor wants to sell me his software. The software works perfectly on my iPhone and causes no damage, and breaks no law.

But Apple says NO. This is a classic example of Illegal Restraint of Trade.

You can not simultenously OPEN the platform and maintain complete control.

I know there will be some stanch Apple Defenders here who will jump up and claim this is an absolute right of Apple because the developers agreed to it when they signed up. Most of them would jump to the other side of the argument if Microsoft were substituted for Apple.

Restraint of trade takes a multitude of forms, ranging from private activity (e.g., contracts between two parties) to government regulation (e.g., licensing requirements or quotas). Common illegal practices include noncompetition clauses, exclusive dealing arrangements, and price discrimination.

It will take only a few developers to get together and pool their resources and hire a lawyer to prove WRONG, those of you who believe Apple is within their rights.

Developers didn't have any choice but to sign these agreements. Its the only way to sell software for this computer.

(Please don't jump up and shout "Cydia" here. Its a not germane to the issue at hand and if Apple catches it on your phone you lose your warranty. Apple claims its a copyright violation to even use it).

Apple can not continue to Gloat at WWDC about their total domination of smartphones and still maintain the fiction that they do not have a monopoly. And monopolies get regulated sooner or later.

So my take on this is, the more egregiously Apple flaunts these App Store rejections the better. Sooner or later a developer will stand up to them. It has become apparent that Apple is not going to learn until some Federal court bitchslaps them into compliance.

Rejection letters are a fact of life in many, many types of businesses. And there is never a factual explanation.

"We’ve reviewed the Application and, consistent with the criteria considered in our approval process, we have chosen not to publish this application."

Maybe Apple is at fault for not letting developers know what the criteria is...and maybe they are at fault for not having the clearest and most concise wording, but this hardly constitutes, "because we said so."

You're right though. It IS suicidal on their part to do it. I think a better way to go would be to allow for some sort of third party app depot where idiot apps can be downloaded. Find some interesting ways to get them to conform to standards though. Like not allowing access to certain features etc... I dunno. All I know is that out of all of those apps in the store I would bet that 75% of them are complete crap. 20% are good ideas that were rushed to production full of bugs in order to get it on the market and out there before someone else and the last 5% are the truly useful, well thought out and programmed apps.

My 2 cents. Your flame length may vary. )