Geekery

No sex please, we’re Apple

Posted on 24. Feb, 2010 by Jake in News

App by app, Apple has spent the last couple of days embarking on a moralistic cleansing of their iPhone App Store. Porn fiends the world over wanted answers, and now. So, thanks to an article on Gizmodo.com, let’s here what the official word from Apple executive Paul Schiller is:

“It came to the point where we were getting customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see.”

Fair enough. What those who have come out strongly against the move have pointed out, though, is that those parents who have complained are not aware of, or simply aren’t using, the parental controls available to them that would restrict their kids from access to these apps.

Also controversial is the fact that Apple have retained two risqué, borderline soft-porn apps in the form of Sports Illustrated and FHM. Are these two allowed to remain because of the commercial clout of the companies they represent? And, if so, is Apples app purge aimed only at smaller developers, who need their products to remain in the App Store the most?

Schiller, when asked about Sports Illustrated, does not deny this: “the difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format,” he said. But, the idea that it’s fine to publish half-naked women as long as you’re famous is insulting.

And, many Apple-heads want their favourite brand to be cooler than the others. We want it to treat us like adults, and that is why the idea of the brand condoning a world in which we cannot choose which Apps we can and can’t to download is troublesome.

Are Apple in the right self-censoring their App Store at the expense of developers? Let me know below.

Tags: App Store, Apple, apps, developers, FHM, Paul Schiller, semi-naked, soft-porn, Sports Illustrated