Apple has finally released the AppStore Guidelines

After so much hoo ha over Apple's very vague guidelines on what applications are permitted in the AppStore, they have finally released the AppStore Review Guidelines. Note that they are guidelines although they are quite comprehensive, and it is stated the guidelines are living. Translated, it can change depending on circumstances. You can refer to the Apple's link here. Do note that only Apple Developers are able to see the guidelines.

The guidelines are split into the following categories as of today:

• Functionality
• Metadata, ratings and rankings
• Location
• Push notifications
• Game Center
• iAds
• Trademarks and trade dress
• Media content
• User interface
• Purchasing and currencies
• Scraping and aggregation
• Damage to device
• Personal attacks
• Violence
• Objectionable content
• Privacy
• Pornography
• Religion, culture, and ethnicity
• Contests, sweepstakes, lotteries, and raffles
• Charities and contributions
• Legal requirements

They have also revised the agreement and they now allow third-party converters (e.g. Adobe) to create AppStore Apps, subjected to conformance to the guidelines of course. Maybe we'll see more interesting apps in the AppStore soon. Judging from the reaction by Adobe, I think it'll be quite soon that CS5 will have the functionality to convert Flash programs to AppStore Apps.