I did read it. While I don't know the details they appear to be describing either a:
- runtime translator/vm
or
- a compiler that will emit either obj c for xcode or binary level code that can be linked.
If it was just emitting objc that you then use apple's tool chain to create the app for then i suspect apple might give them some slack. But maybe not. Personally I'd question the long term viability of such a solution.
In either of the other cases the point is that there would be other (3rd party) devs creating apps with this high level language. Apple updates their apis in some incompatible way. You then have the issue so two layers that that api change has to go through.
- The abstraction devs.
- The 3rd party devs.
The more 3rd party devs using it... the greater the chance of mass issues when the api changes.
I'm assuming the renrev guys are good guys and want to provide a nice environment for people to develop apps on. But I can also see apple's point (although I don't like it much myself), that they define and control the api for the iP/P. If you want to write apps for it then you gotta use those apis.
From the perspective of an appliance maker it does make a lot of sense to keep the middlemen out of the equation.