“Maintenance of Safari Extensions is also about to get even worse”
And then: “All four of the other browsers use effectively the same APIs — Safari is potentially going to change that in some ugly ways” and To develop a Safari extension may eventually require Xcode” (emphasis mine).
So it implies that Apple is forcing a switch to the Safari App Extension model, but there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of that. Both the traditional extension model and the new app extension model are supported side by side right now.
While I agree that the review process is ridiculous, I think the author is disingenuous or uneducated on a few of the key points of the article.
http://luckyrobot.com/limitations-shaped-stealth-fighter/