They are strict indeed :

"We do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone," (Steve Jobs, quoted on the Wikipedia page about the AppStore)

Even though you bought the thing (and it's not exactly cheap), you cannot put it to all the legal uses you'd like to. There is someone else deciding for you that some things do not make for "a good user experience", and, as seen in the quote above, they enforce their own moral standards about it.

I find that evil. Of course, that's just my opinion, but who knows which other things they may feel they have a "moral responsibility" to keep off their platforms ?