MacStories: “What bothers me the most about this incident is how Apple implemented its policy change. There was no imminent threat or emergency that made Reddit clients any more a threat than they were twelve months prior, but nonetheless Apple summarily pulled them and offered to reconsider the apps if the developers resubmitted. The developers worked through the night, resubmitted their apps and many were back on the App Store by the next morning. As a result, the story barely got traction and, while Apple may have avoided an onslaught of bad press, the damage was done. Developers took note.”
This mess could have been completely avoided if Apple had picked up the phone and reached out to each developer affected. Why not call and say “Hey, this is Apple, we’d like you to turn the NSFW setting on by default and resubmit your app. You have x-days to make the change.”
How tough would that have been?