Apple today announced that it has lifted restrictions on its third-party developer guidelines, a decision that has direct implications for Adobe?s Packager for iPhone, a feature in the Flash Professional CS5 authoring tool.

"We are continually trying to make the App Store even better," Apple said in a statement. "We have listened to our developers and taken much of their feedback to heart. Based on their input, today we are making some important changes to our iOS Developer Program license in sections 3.3.1, 3.3.2 and 3.3.9 to relax some restrictions we put in place earlier this year," the statement reads.

In particular, Apple is relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code.

"This should give developers the flexibility they want, while preserving the security we need," Apple added.

In addition, for the first time Apple is publishing the App Store Review Guidelines to help developers understand how we review submitted apps.

Apple's decision a high-profile spat with Adobe last spring that saw Steve Jobs criticize Flash technology.

Apple had been criticized also by developers for what they called onerous restrictions on building apps. Apple had banned developers from using the popular Flash software and other technology to build apps for iOS, the operating system that powers the iPhone and iPad.

Apple?s announcement has direct implications for Adobe?s Packager for iPhone, a feature in the Flash Professional CS5 authoring tool. This feature was created to enable Flash developers to quickly deliver applications for iOS devices. The feature is available for developers to use today in Flash Professional CS5, and Adobe will now resume development work on this feature for future releases.

"This is great news for developers and we?re hearing from our developer community that Packager apps are already being approved for the App Store. We do want to point out that Apple?s restriction on Flash content running in the browser on iOS devices remains in place," Adobe said in statement.

The App Store's competitor, Google 's Android Marketplace, has few restrictions for developers. That's been welcomed by developers, but has also led to a flood of low-quality applications and even some that prey on buyers.

The App Store, made popular by the success of the iPhone, has distributed over 6.5 billion downloads from over 250,000 different apps since its debut in July 2008, making it the world's largest mobile application platform, according to Apple.