Mac App Store rules revealed: Apple strict as ever

The Mac App Store only broke cover last night (alongside the OS X Lion sneak peek and the new Macbook Air) but Apple has already revealed its list of rules for developers. And surprise, surprise, they’re just a little bit strict. From the oddly specific to the simply odd, the Mac App Store rules make for entertaining reading…

If you’re used to trying Mac software before you shell out for the full version, that’s not happening with the Mac App Store. Apple has carried over its rule from the iTunes App Store forbidding apps that are “beta, demo, trial or test versions”. That’s cheeky really given that FaceTime for Mac has bounced out into the world in beta form.

The restrictive approach familiar to iPhone and iPad app developers is all making the jump to the Mac App Store. Apps that change user interface elements or behaviour in Mac OS X are banned which means lots of great apps will be forbidden from the off. The same rule applies for any Mac Apps that “look similar to Apple Products or apps bundled on the Mac.”

There’s bad news for game companies too but good news for Steam for Mac. Apple’s taking a hardline on violence which effectively means great FPS games like Crackdown 2 won’t make the grade. The Mac App Store rules says games will be kept out if they “portray realistic images of people or animals being killed or maimed, shot, stabbed, tortured or injured.” Enemies from an identifiable group are also a no-no.

We’ve also spotted a number of oddly worded or just odd rules. The Mac App Store guidelines forbid apps that produce content that is “frequently pornographic” but how frequent can the rudery be? The odd nipple but no more? Apple will also be applying its judgment on whether apps are “useful or do not provide lasting entertainment”.

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There are some very specific exclusions in the Mac App Store guidelines too – no apps that include Russian roulette, no apps that encourage users to use their Mac in a way that might cause damage to it and no apps that can be used as illegal gambling aids (surely covered by the rule banning illegality in general?).

Steve Jobs concludes the Mac App Store guidelines with a call to arms: “Show them their world in innovative ways and let them interact with it like never before. In our experience, users really respond to polish, both in functionality and user interface. Go the extra mile. Give them more than they expect. And take them places where they have never been before.”

Inspiring stuff but will developers be encouraged to put their apps into the new Mac App Store when there’s so many rules to limbo through? What do you think? Are Apple’s Mac App Store guidelines draconian? Or fair enough really?

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