Apple: .net apps are kicked off iPhone OS 4 too.

No doubt, but that's a different kind of "bet" (I briefly alluded to it in my original comment). There's naturally the bet that the language might not be around in 2 years, or that the language isn't capable enough to do what you need it to do, or that the language is too niche for XYZ Corporation's programmers and finding other programmers might be hard[1].

But that's a completely different kind of bet from "I wonder if this very popular and capable language will be against the arbitrary and ever-changing rules."

The former is quite practical. The latter shouldn't have to be a concern.

[1] Off-topic, I recently had this debate with a guy I'm going into business with, in which I was trying to convince him Erlang is a viable language. He's more of a business-financial-type and was concerned with the proverbial "what happens if you get hit by a bus." While I understand his concern, eventually he, correctly, resigned the programming stuff to me, where it belongs :)

By that argument, we should keep anyone that isn't professionally certified out of every activity where people are also professionals. Want to create a start-up? Sorry, you're not professional enough to create a start-up, so you're legally banned from doing so.

> where products are being sold to real consumers who want their phone--and everything that runs on it--to be reliable

How can you hope to speak for all iPhone users? Do you really think that the interests and goals of every single iPhone user align perfectly with no conflicts?

> Professional programmers don't have a problem with learning a new language, if that's what's required to target a new platform. If someone "has trouble writing in ObjC", then they really need to work on their skills. This person sounds like a hobbyist who probably shouldn't be selling his wares to run on consumer electronics devices with limited RAM and battery life.

We should also make it easier to identify 'professional' programmers from the lowly hobbyists by creating a 'professional programmer' certification program. Sort of like a bar-exam for programmers. Then we would know that no professional programmer was lacking in any respect. All code produced would be perfect and of the highest quality. I mean, it works for lawyers. No incompetent lawyer has ever passed the bar-exam, and no medical professional that was incompetent has ever received a license practice medicine.

Here's a use case: someone in a niche field - say, an archaeologist, just to pick something - has a clever idea for a phone app that will assist him in his job. He knows a little about programming, and manages to put together a Lua script that does most of what he needs. Several of his colleagues find his code really useful and recommend it to their friends too.

You're probably right that the app store isn't the right place to distribute it, but Apple doesn't give you a lot of leeway there, does it? In any case, if it's some random app for a niche, and people find it useful, who cares if it's got some deficiencies?

There are many developers that would love to take trade places with those 10 apps in the top 100. If I knew something like Doodle Jump was written on the .NET platform, I'd probably jump at the chance to make a similar clone in hopes of taking it's place.