

Did Apple just ban sexual content from the AppStore? - loumf
http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/18/did-apple-just-ban-sexual-content-from-the-app-store/

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gry
I'm annoyed by people saying things without saying things. Passive voice
destroys clarity.

I edited it below. Apple _does not state nor condone it_. My revision is,
however, an example how active voice exposes intent.

Why don't we write with conviction? It's not a stretch.

It saddens me we leave weasel words for the occasion we may be held to a
position we once had.

\--

As the App Store evolves, we refine our guidelines. Your application, Wobble
iBoobs (Premium Uncensored), contains content we believed suitable for
distribution. However, we received numerous complaints from our customers
about this content type and changed our guidelines.

We decided to remove any overtly sexual content from the App Store, including
your application.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter. If you believe you can make
the necessary changes so Wobble iBoobs (Premium Uncensored) complies with our
changes, we encourage you to do so and resubmit for review.

Sincerely, iPhone App Review

\-- original --

The App Store continues to evolve, and as such, we are constantly refining our
guidelines. Your application, Wobble iBoobs (Premium Uncensored), contains
content that we had originally believed to be suitable for distribution.
However, we have recently received numerous complaints from our customers
about this type of content, and have changed our guidelines appropriately.

We have decided to remove any overtly sexual content from the App Store, which
includes your application.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter. If you believe you can make
the necessary changes so that Wobble iBoobs (Premium Uncensored) complies with
our recent changes, we encourage you to do so and resubmit for review.

Sincerely, iPhone App Review

~~~
MrRage
I would also add overuse of adverbs. Good to see you removed most of them in
your rewrite.

~~~
gry
Agreed. I left "overtly" with intent. There is something far more deliberate
and newsworthy, IMHO.

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dpcan
I'm fine with the decision. The Lifestyle section of the App store was tough
to navigate without being inundated with smut apps, drowning out anything
interesting.

On the other hand, why not just create an 18+ category in the App store, push
everything there and if you don't want to see it, don't go looking.

~~~
metachor
"why not just create an 18+ category in the App store"

Because every app that accesses the web in some way is forced to be rated 18+.

------
kelnos
One more reason I'm glad I just bought a Nexus One this week.

No, I'm not going to say Google is god and they've done everything right. And
I don't hate Apple: last year I just replaced my PowerBook with a shiny new
MacBook Pro. But Apple's mobile story is about control. At least Google seems
to be a bit more laissez faire about all this, and it's a lot easier to get
apps on people's devices if you don't want to go through Android Market.

------
davidedicillo
Yeah, I just received the same email for my Featured Pinups application.

The sad part is that this application didn't really had anything obscene, it
was just a simple application to showcase the featured pictures of the day of
PinupLifestyle.com who hired me to build the application.

Meh.

~~~
loumf
The app in the article doesn't have content at all, but is advertised and
named provocatively. I'm sure Apple doesn't care about having apps like this,
but just shutting people off instead of warning them and giving them clear
guidelines and time to make changes would be much better.

~~~
davidedicillo
yeah. I'm actually fine with them getting rid of most of those trash apps, but
if they want to do selection, then they should put some thoughts behind like
"is this sex playing on the sexuality of its content or it's just for real
artistic reasons?"

------
c1sc0
There go my dreams of high-resolution smut-based iPad riches ... _not_.I don't
like the principle but I understand why they are doing it. With a more
efficient approval process in place they now can afford to raise the bar &
clean up the AppStore. They have to please the masses.

There's an interesting cultural component in all of this: Apple is operating
globally but they are navigating with a distinctly North-American Compass. My
guess is if it were a European company running this, they wouldn't give up
this highly profitable 18+ niche. And I shudder to think what a Japanese
AppStore would look like ;-)

------
jsz0
Google's stated policy is to also reject pornography applications from the
Android Market:

 _"Nudity and Sexually Explicit Material We don't allow content that contains
nudity, graphic sex acts, or sexually explicit material. We also don't allow
content that drives traffic to commercial pornography sites."_

~~~
hga
However this restriction is reported to go _way_ beyond what Google prohibits.

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pedalpete
If apple weren't an American company, would anything like this happen? I
assume you can still have as much violence as possible and it will still be
approved? What is Apple thinking with moves like this? What are they trying to
prevent?

~~~
patio11
_What are they trying to prevent?_

They are trying to prevent becoming known as the phone which has fart sounds
and jiggling mammaries available at the click of a button.

~~~
fname
You say that like it's not something they should be proud of.

~~~
patio11
I personally don't think it is, but my opinion is irrelevant. More relevant is
that Apple's brand image is that "We're elegant technology for discerning rich
people like you. You deserve us because you're better than people who don't
use Apple products."

Low-brow stuff doesn't have a place in this brand image.

~~~
patio11
Incidentally, I have previously said here that "Check this out dude my iPhone
can fart. Your lame phone can't fart, can it?!" has helped to sell iPhones.
Now that Apple doesn't need that any more, and wants to move a bit upmarket,
they put me in the mind of my favorite lines from Shakespeare (part of Brutus'
soliloquy in Act 2, Scene 1 of Tragedy of Julius Caesar):

That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,

Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;

But when he once attains the upmost round.

He then unto the ladder turns his back,

Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees

By which he did ascend. So Caesar may.

( _Spoiler warning_ : Brutus' solution to this is to kill Caesar.)

------
jrockway
At least we now know why Apple didn't allow for removable storage:

<http://xkcd.com/691/>

