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That rule was dropped a long time ago. AFAIK, the only remaining restriction is using Safari's rendering engine for browser apps.

Examples:

  * Opera vs Safari.app
  * Sparrow vs Mail.app
  * Vimeo vs YouTube app
  * Agenda vs Calendar.app
  * Kik vs Messages.app
  * Simplenote vs Notes.app
(I believe it came out that that "rule" was only used as an excuse for Apple to delay the Google Voice app. After they finally agreed to let Google Voice on the App Store a year later, I don't think I've ever seen anyone complain about it.)


"That rule was dropped a long time ago"

There are no rules for approval on the appstore. Just guidelines.

If Apple feels like it is in their best interest, it will allow the Google Maps app in the Appstore. Otherwise it reject the app.


It's actually not the rendering engine but interpretation of code downloaded from the netwOrk (i.e. JavaScript) which must use Apple's interpreter. That interpreter happens to be tied into their browser, so using it for other things is impractical.




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