Though, I can see Apple's wiggle-room still. The image talks about rejecting a 'binary'. The boilerplate text, rejecting a 'version'.
So picturing myself seated on Apple's (self-interested, self-serving) mental furniture, they may interpret things as: "We've rejected a version, and rejected a binary, but the app itself is still (and perpetually!) eligible for further consideration."
Now we're playing semantics. The problem with redefining "rejecting an app" is that the phrase already has a perfectly good meaning: "dismiss as inadequate, inappropriate, or not to one's taste." Rejecting doesn't (have to) imply permanence; I rejected non-Newtonian physics for much of my life, but I do so no longer. If showing a red stoplight, the word "Rejected", and Phil Schiller calling you to say the app's not in the store doesn't mean the app was rejected than the phrase has no meaning. (Again, don't have any insider knowledge here; just inferring what happened based on my experience with app rejections).
Further, even playing by Apple's own semantics (which I take strong issue with), there's clearly an "Application status" called "Rejected". So even if they were to suddenly become nihilists and apps are never rejected, that's not consistent with what the iTunes Connect interface actually says, which (IANAL) I presume is legally actionable with respect to what constitutes an official Apple communication.
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Thanks for the details!
Though, I can see Apple's wiggle-room still. The image talks about rejecting a 'binary'. The boilerplate text, rejecting a 'version'.
So picturing myself seated on Apple's (self-interested, self-serving) mental furniture, they may interpret things as: "We've rejected a version, and rejected a binary, but the app itself is still (and perpetually!) eligible for further consideration."
Now we're playing semantics. The problem with redefining "rejecting an app" is that the phrase already has a perfectly good meaning: "dismiss as inadequate, inappropriate, or not to one's taste." Rejecting doesn't (have to) imply permanence; I rejected non-Newtonian physics for much of my life, but I do so no longer. If showing a red stoplight, the word "Rejected", and Phil Schiller calling you to say the app's not in the store doesn't mean the app was rejected than the phrase has no meaning. (Again, don't have any insider knowledge here; just inferring what happened based on my experience with app rejections).
Further, even playing by Apple's own semantics (which I take strong issue with), there's clearly an "Application status" called "Rejected". So even if they were to suddenly become nihilists and apps are never rejected, that's not consistent with what the iTunes Connect interface actually says, which (IANAL) I presume is legally actionable with respect to what constitutes an official Apple communication.
Law is just playing semantics.