David Smith offers a wrapper for developers to use when asking for Address Book permissions. Simple and easy.
The recent controversy regarding address book data in iOS got me thinking about how difficult it is for developers to take reasonable steps to protect user data. If it posed a significant developmental challenge then it would at least be understandable, though still inexcusable, for app makers to ignore best-practices.
Hopefully the recent flap about privacy concerns will reinforce the value of taking the extra step to follow best-practices.