It seems to me that the rudeness of Apple at WWDC is based more on fear and cowardice than hostility. They simply wouldn't face the barrage of "Why can't you tell us why our apps are being rejected?" and related questions.

I heard about this last night from both a friend and a fellow developer that went to WWDC. They told me the exact same story.

But in defense of the presenters, they are usually Apple developer team members, leaders or marketing trolls. These questions need to be answered by the iTunes Connect team and Apple Management. Alas, none of developers can get in touch with them. Not even Apple Developer Connection can contact them thru any means other than email with no promise of reply.

I would bet that 98% of developers who have their app rejected, have a fear in their GUT that they know what caused it. But they went ahead and did what they did and hoped for the best. Being coy, being cute, trying to slip something by ticks off ANY proper business, yet I have no doubt that the "losers" know what caused the problem most of the time.
But, I do agree that Apple could be a little clearer, maybe?

It is no surprise that people who are new to a large conference get upset when there are some c*** sessions.

I've been to dozen of conferences over the past two decades, from the stellar "DECUS" conferences of the early 1990s to WWDC.

Even the best conferences I've been to have had bad sessions that I've suffered.

Sometimes the presenter just isn't up to speed; sometimes there are logistic issues; sometimes the session description doesn't match the presentation. Sometimes the audience disrupts an otherwise worthwhile talk.

If you find yourself in a bad session, you pick yourself up and move on. Next year, perhaps we should all publish notes about the worst sessions we attend.

It was the last session on the last day of the conference and I don't think they did Q

There's a simple answer - it's a no-win situation for Apple.

"Developer: The app store rejection process seems subjective."

"Apple: Yes, it is."

An angry murmur runs though the crowd...

"Developer: We need functionality for charging for upgrades."

"Apple: We're aware of that."

An angry murmur runs through the crowd...

In short, there's no way a Q&A session on the app store is going to do anything but turn into a massive whinefest, after which, people will whine to MacNN that Apple didn't answer their questions.

Apple did the right thing - put out the information, accept feedback through normal channels and move on.

...so what do you want to do about it?

I read this article and I wonder where the second half of it is. What did you do or going to do? Did you demand an apology and/or refund from WWDC? Are you planning on still developing for the iPhone knowing the circumstances as it is? Do you have an alternative and if so, how to get it discussed?

Otherwise, this seems like a "crying like a little b****" tale!

Apple didn't let "a no win situation" become the focus, simply shocking... The parental controls in 3.0 will improve the situation, but when Apple can be held liable for some of the c*** put out, what do you expect a corporation to do.

I know this sounds silly, but have you considered that there may have been other reasons for such a poor session? Maybe the presenter was sick or (more likely) a last minute substitute for a truly qualified presenter. Stranger things have happened.

I really don't think there's a 'grassy knoll' here...

…was also un-productive. The iPhone sessions had a lot of bitchfest from developers, and rightly so. Many of Apple's policies towards the iPhone are just plain broken, with the App Store being the worst.

For those who haven't seen some of the letters coming from Apple, you should look them up. Many developers have had bug fix updates rejected from the App Store. With no reason. Just "we don't like it". For a developer who is actually trying to make life better for customers and have Apple hinder that is incredibly frustrating.

WWDC is touted (on Apple's on Web page) as "your chance to interact with Apple engineers". But regarding the App Store, they simply didn't want to hear it. And it's not just engineers from Apple that turned a blind eye/ear. The developer relations/evangelists at Apple, who are supposedly YOUR liason to Apple, simply shut down conversations if they turned to policies that frustrated developers. I can think of better things to do with $1800 room & board than be told "We're not hear to discuss that right now".

sorry about the grammar/spelling, posted from iPhone…should have been "I can think of better things to do with $1800 plus room & board than be told "We're not here to discuss that right now".