

Anti-iPhone iPhone game makes it past Apple's review process - naz
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/phone-story/id462806536

======
zdw
One big point - Apple supports it's products longer than the rest of the
industry, thus they don't end up in landfills as quickly. For example:

\- The original iPhone was released in June of 2007, and had the newest iOS
(3.x) available until the release of iOS 4 in June 2010.

\- The iPhone 3GS was released in June of 2009, and is still getting OS
updates, even to iOS 5 released later this year.

How many Android phones are obsolete in 6 months, never receiving another
software update? The impetus to upgrade and chuck the old phone is much higher
in their case as obsolescence starts nearly immediately because the
manufacturers only make money on the hardware itself.

You'll likely get at least 3 years of OS updates out of Apple, whereas you
might get one if you're lucky and the manufacturer still likes the product
with Android.

~~~
markokocic
From your own examples: \- original iPhone supported for less than 3 years \-
3GS supported for ~2 years

As much as one likes Apple, this is not something that I would call "long term
support".

~~~
shinratdr
> As much as one likes Apple, this is not something that I would call "long
> term support".

Then you've never owned a smartphone before? If you can find a pre (or even
post) iPhone smartphone that gets updates for 3 years+, I would love to see
it.

~~~
num1
Saying that you're no worse than everybody else is not the same as saying
you're worth applauding.

If you've only worked with phones, you might have an inflated view of what
"Long Term" means. The servers here, for example, run for 5 years between
reboots. <http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/today/top.avg.html>

~~~
shinratdr
> Saying that you're no worse than everybody else is not the same as saying
> you're worth applauding.

I disagree. Apple is bringing smartphone software support out of it's "6
months then give up" cycle. I think that's worth applauding.

> If you've only worked with phones, you might have an inflated view of what
> "Long Term" means.

Right, I have a warped view of what long term support means because I'm
comparing it to other consumer electronics instead of dedicated servers.

I'm sure if you are used to buying cars, seeing your phone's hardware warranty
is pretty disappointing too. Expectations are a bitch.

------
sambeau
I'm not surprised that this got through as it is more likely to offend Apple
than a user.

Apple's control of the App Store is not without good reason. It seeks to
protect users (and their children) from malware, pornography and offence (and
protect Apple from bad publicity and legal action by selling such things to
its users).

While an overzealous employee might take it onto themselves to try to protect
Apple from criticism in this way: it is not Apple policy to do so.

Note also that Apple has always reacted sensibly to any accusations of abuse
and/or suicide in it's supplier's factories. Plus, Foxconn's suicide rate is
far below both China's and the US's rate for a similar demographic.

~~~
w1ntermute
> It seeks to protect users (and their children) from malware, pornography and
> offence (and protect Apple from bad publicity and legal action by selling
> such things to its users).

Do people really still buy this line? If they're trying to protect users and
their children from "malware, pornography and offence," shouldn't they be
blocking those things in the iPhone web browser as well? And what about on the
Mac? All those things should be blocked on there as well.

~~~
sambeau
_Do people really still buy this line?_

What _line?_ Why else would they do it?

The control that they over the iOS platform has provided the first truly safe
computing environment. This is, in my opinion, more important to its long-term
success than the innovative user interface. This is the part that other
companies have so-far failed to copy.

Apple don't seek control for it's own sake—it's a lot of work and very
expensive—which is why other companies balk at it.

~~~
mikecane
>>>What line? Why else would they do it?

How does the App Store banning a magazine for Android users fit into your view
of how the App Store operates?

------
dan1234
It's a bit misleading to say this is an Anti-iPhone game when it's drawing
attention to how most electrical items are made.

Also, I'd imagine Apple would've been slammed for rejecting an app which
claims to be donating proceeds to charity so it'd be less controversial to let
it through.

~~~
johnbatch
I thought Apple's policy was to reject all apps that claim to donate proceeds
to charity.

"You cannot say anywhere in the application description, support materials, or
the application itself that some or all of the proceeds will go to any given
charity" [http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/01/app-store-
lessons-...](http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/01/app-store-lessons-
developing-charitably.ars)

~~~
kahawe
> _[http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/01/app-store-
> lessons-...](http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/01/app-store-
> lessons-..).

"Published 2 years ago"_

And I think in all fairness, one should add that from that article it looks
like this comes down to certain accounting requirements and regulations that
Apple was not able to meet (at least back then) - not from them not wanting
anyone to give to charity.

------
k0mplex
Apple just took it down - here's a screenshot of what it was
<http://i.imgur.com/hnCMx.jpg>

------
elithrar
The [Foxcon] workers jumping off the building in the screenshots is extremely
tasteless.

~~~
muraiki
I think that's the point. This app wasn't made to make people feel good and
have a fun time playing a game. It's to alert them to the consequences of
their economic decisions. By making a game of the sad reality of overworked
factory workers committing suicide, it draws attention to what it is that
allows us to play games on this device. Thus there is a connection established
between game and death.

~~~
philwelch
Setting aside the possibility that some workplace suicides are just suicides
and not an artifact of capitalist oppression, sure. By that standard, there
should be postage stamps emblazoned with the image of a disgruntled postal
worker shooting his coworkers to death, just so we as consumers know what's at
stake when we send a letter.

~~~
muraiki
Yes, but this game isn't just about random workplace suicides. It's about
workplace suicides in the context of manufacturing phones. It's about the
specific plant that manufactures these phones. That context is important to
understanding the game, and taken outside of that context, yes it would be
absurd.

~~~
robin_reala
Didn’t someone run the numbers and find that the number of suicides / head at
Foxconn was significantly lower than the number of suicides / head for the
general population in that region?

~~~
cube13
IIRC, it was something like 20 suicides in the last year, with Foxconn
employing 300,000-400,000 people at the facility.

According to
wikipedia([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_ra...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate)),
the average total number of suicides per 100,000 in China is around 6.6.

So you get, depending on the actual number of workers, either the national
average for China, or slightly below it.

~~~
burgerbrain
We should really be comparing the Foxconn suicide rate with the suicide rate
of _employed_ people in the surrounding area. I suspect that the currently
unemployed may up a decent part of the general population suicide rate.

------
jvc26
I'm not convinced the game is 'anti-iPhone', isn't the objective to raise
greater awareness of some of the working conditions of those involved in the
manufacture of smartphones (e.g. those at FoxConn etc.), and to donate money
to causes who support such workers.

~~~
hugh3
_to donate money to causes who support such workers_

You mean... by buying more iPhones?

------
dshep
There's a lot more detail here... Pretty interesting
<http://www.phonestory.org/>

------
latch
I think that game will make a tidy profit given the attention it's about to
get.

I'm have absolutely no idea if Apple is going to pull it. I wouldn't be
surprised either way, yet I think whatever happens, I'll be surprised.

~~~
gnoupi
In a way, why would they? It's an iPhone game, meaning that Apple earns money
from each game sold. Also, it is delivered to people who obviously own an
iPhone already. So I doubt it's really going to hurt iPhone sales or
something.

------
hbianchi
I was lucky and bought it right when I saw this post. I think is thought
provoking and yes, controversial. I shared it with my 11 year old daughter and
we had a conversation about life cycle of our electronics. I say anything that
gets people to talk about issues is good. But censorship - a la app store- is
not good. Hope they put it on Cydia at least.

------
JoshTriplett
When linking to pages in the iTunes store, please, link to pages that work for
people who don't have iTunes. Such pages exist; see, for instance, the pages
reachable from <http://itunes.apple.com/us/browse> .

~~~
marklittlewood
The links have been removed by Apple. You can see the screenshots and app
description here though.

[http://thebln.com/2011/09/did-apple-find-a-sick-sense-of-
hum...](http://thebln.com/2011/09/did-apple-find-a-sick-sense-of-humour-or-
did-they-just-lose-control-of-itunes/)

------
mikecaron
I wrote a letter to Tim Cook about this
([http://mrcaron.tumblr.com/post/10163623845/open-letter-to-
ti...](http://mrcaron.tumblr.com/post/10163623845/open-letter-to-tim-cook-ceo-
apple-inc)), hoping to spread the love.

~~~
heysomeguythere
<http://www.apple.com/recycling/>

Looks like Apple already implemented everything you asked for.

------
joeyespo
Looks like it was taken down now.

------
shiftpgdn
It looks like it has already been pulled off of the App store.

------
kennywinker
Link broken... looks like it's been pulled

------
sambeau
Now banned

<http://phonestory.org/banned.html>

------
avgarrison
Technically, it's not a game, since it is listed in the Education category.

------
marklittlewood
Thanks goodness I saved some screenshot! It seems to have disappeared from the
App stores. I love how this has turned almost immediately into a bunch of
Apple Fan Boyz talking about Apple.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2991512>

