• Ars Technica et al, Thursday, September 9, 2010 11:34 AM

Scrap the fart apps, but break out the Flash: In a surprise move (and one which has stolen some of Google Instant's media thunder) Apple has relaxed its restrictions on app code, opening the door to previously outlawed analytics. Those restrictions, first beefed up upon the bbeta release of OS4, previously disallowed certain types of code for programming, and strictly limited the analytics third party ad nets could collect, strengthening its own iAd's position.

"Apple said Thursday morning that feedback from developers led to relaxing restrictions from these sections of the developer agreement, though it's hard to believe that an FTC investigation into the restrictions wasn't a factor as well," writes Arc Technica.

In addition to allowing outside analytics, the coding language options are more open as well, possibly allowing even the contested Adobe Flash onto iPod and iPad devices. "Apple's press release didn't specifically mention Adobe or its Flash technology ... but the company said it was 'relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code,'" reports the Wall Street Journal, which added, "The news sent Adobe shares up 8.5% to $31.81 in recent trading."

Under the headline "Did Apple Just Open the Door to Adobe Flash on the iPhone and iPad?" Fast Company ponders the title question, saying "It's an extraordinary possibility that brings to an end months of a very public saga. It doesn't necessarily supersede Apple's push to promote HTML5 as the future of the Web, though -- we're guessing Steve Jobs is still very much focused on this goal, and his thoughts are borne out by developments inside other big firms like Google (which should, incidentally, be pleased by the other change Apple made to clause 3.3.9 which frees Google up to sell ads in apps)."

In addition, Apple also released a set of public guidelines(PDF), which developers have long been after in the hopes of having some light shed on the app approval process. And Apple seemed to approach the task with good humor. The introduction states, "We have over 250,000 apps in the App Store. We don't need any more Fart apps."

Engadget has rundown of some of the key points in the guidelines, including what specifically can get an app rejected (metadata that mentions other mobile platforms, apps that alter the iOS homescreen, apps that appear confusingly similar to Apple products, apps that browse the web must use the iOS WebKit framework and WebKit Javascript), and reprints Apple's rousing conclusion in its entirety, which Engadgets says "reads like the secret last verse to 'Greatest Love of All.'"

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