Actually, Apple will specifically tell you which rule(s) in the App Store terms and conditions that your application breaks. You can change your app and then resubmit, or appeal the decision (I had a little app rejected, appealed and it was approved about four days later)
They most certainly do not. I will not develop an app for Apple again and abandoned a "startup" based around app customization.
I developed an app with a partner, released it to App Store then took it down to upload it under a new account. Same app.
Apple rejected our app. They refused to explain by email why. They insisted on only dealing with me by phone. Over the phone they said the policies had changed in the last two weeks and my app would not be accepted. I asked which policy and they refused to say which one. I asked what I could do to get back in the app store and they said they couldn't tell me. I suggested some ideas and the Apple employee on the other end of the phone said that those would be "helpful" but they couldn't say that that would be enough to get my app listed again.
Time to cut and run. I cancelled both orders for customized versions of the app that I had taken from clients (and apologized profusely). I asked Apple for a refund on my developer account. They refused. I said that since the policies had changed then I was entitled to a refund because I bought the account under the old policies and if they'd like to change the terms and I don't agree then I'm entitled to have my money refunded. They said it was a "one time exception" but grudgingly refunded my developer account.
Yes, but this process is infamous for being capricious, for rejecting apps for their basic purpose, for taking unexplained weeks to process, on and on. So yes, it worked for you, once.
Which is precisely my problem with it. You build an app (at cost) and then you can't sell it because the turf you're playing on has restrictions.
They need to offer:
1. Certified apps from the app store which are approved via this process.
2. Apps which you can just download and chuck on with no Apple or carrier approval.
Ironically just like the Mac App Store i.e. you don't have to go there.
Oh and like Windows for the last however many years it has been around.
The price of dealing with the restrictions is justified by the exposure you get to a market willing to pay for goods. The few apps I've had that were rejected were done so justifiably, and when they weren't, we worked it out with them.
Do they? At the time I was looking into it, there were many complaints that they didn't. (To be fair, Android has had some of the same complaints, but as I noted, the Android Market isn't the only path for an Android app.)
