Apparently, any apps on the App Store that tap into a social gaming platform other than Game Center are liable to be removed.
As are any games that are launched on rival operating systems. Or contain virtual buttons. Or include guns or cars. Or feature birds, pigs or, in fact, animals of any kind.
I am, of course, pulling your digital leg for starters, when has Apple ever 'announced' a change to its rules?
Indeed, amongst all the hype and hysteria that surrounds the revelation of a new addition to Apple's App Review Guidelines, the one thing that almost everybody we've spoken to wants from Apple is a greater drive to communicate with the iOS community.
Hype, hysteria, and hits
Though it generates articles aplenty across the web the kind that amass hit tallies that bring a smile to an editor's face it's especially hard to carve through all the commentary and find the truth when the company behind the furore never speaks.
Clause 2.25 in the App Review Guidelines
When we were tipped off about Clause 2.25 in the new App Review Guidelines which outlaws apps that "display apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a similar manner to or confusing with the App Store" - we reached out to developers and promo networks for their take on the issue.
They replied, with force.
We also reached out to Apple, which fairly typically is yet to offer us any form of statement, or even acknowledgement that the clause even exists.
It's this approach to developer relations that most alarms those working on the App Store. In truth, it appears the impact of clause 2.25 is likely to be minimal: we can count the number of developers we're aware of that have been party to Apple utilising the clause on one hand.
But, as with many rules and regulations that Apple brings in almost under the cover of darkness, its wording means it can be decoded by many different people to mean many different things.
A clause for concern?
As one developer remarked to me, clause 2.25 is akin to "using a sledgehammer to crack an egg". Apple's likely target is one or two businesses that, as others have said on these pages, attempt to 'game' the App Store's rankings.
There is, however, no way of knowing this for sure.
The open nature of the clause means Apple could, if it so decided, use it against any form of promo app, discovery tool or affliliate service. It could use it against indies cross promoting their games with other indies.
It could even use it against games that sport any form of advert, if the advert in question is deemed to take the appearance of a marketplace or confuse consumers.
All such uses now appear especially unlikely, but what developers are crying out for is clarification.
Developers want to know from Apple how its rules and regulations will be applied, rather than going through the process of either waiting for their titles to be removed, or playing hit and hope with Apple's approval process to see what apps get rejected and which manage to filter through.
When so many businesses rely on Apple's iOS ecosystem, it's not unreasonable to expect the company in charge of its future to be open with the community it has fostered.
An equal relationship
One constant theme that seems to have run throughout all four years of the App Store's existence is a feeling by many developers that, at any moment, Apple could pull the rug from underneath them.
The feeling that a method they use to support their releases could suddenly be at cross-purposes with a rule or regulation that they didn't even know existed looms large with many studios.
In reality, the number of apps that have been removed for such reasons compared to the mass of titles on sale on the App Store today is minimal, but it's never knowing whether as dramatic as it sounds their apps might be next on Apple's hitlist that causes the concern.
Apple has to realise something: while there are plenty of firms who are happy to make the most of, or even exploit, the success of the App Store, for most developers operating out there, this is all still very much a learning process.
Even developers with huge hits under their belts often have little idea why one game can be a smash while other top titles manage to slip under the radar.
Developers, therefore, stick like glue to any promo platforms or techniques that, even if only in a small way, provide an element of security and a chance that their games will pick up some downloads.
Just as the majority of developers will never run into major trouble with any of Apple's rules and regulations, so are few number of studios actively trying to defraud either the App Store or its users.
If Apple genuinely sees itself as the leader of the mobile development community, then it needs to be prepared to open up and talk about what direction it's taking iOS and why.
For the good of the industry, this has to be a two-way street.
