Most people aren't designers, the point of hiring designers and doing things like the HIG are so that regular programmers can create pretty good looking apps ou

Most people aren't designers, the point of hiring designers and doing things like the HIG are so that regular programmers can create pretty good looking apps out of the box. Yes, the guys at Flipboard will probably be able to out do the HIG but it's a great starting point. Not having a HIG means that regular programmers will have to reinvent the HIG themselves. I've had app rejections for HIG violations and to be honest I'm sure I could have kept my bad design if I replaced some stock Apple buttons with my own, but when I thought about it it made a lot more sense to just go with the HIG. (I was using a detail disclosure button for a login button)