As annoying as it must be for the developers of some of these apps, I have to wonder what they were thinking when they decided to make an app that so clearly straddles the line into duplicating app store functionality. I can't imagine taking that kind of risk with a business given Apple's history of rejecting and removing apps like this.

Another example that comes to mind is that Dashboard clone iPad app that was rejected a few weeks back (http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/09/dashboard-ipad-app-reject...). While it was cool, it was clearly the kind of app that would be very likely to be rejected even if it wasn't so flagrantly copying Apple's designs.

I'm not saying it isn't a shame that there are some categories of apps that I would love to have (say, a great podcast aggregator) that are simply too risky to make, and Apple should definitely have more transparent policies and a way to pre-vet an app idea, but if I were looking to spend 3-4 months working on an iPhone app, I might spend 2 minutes thinking about its chance of getting rejected first.