Why is anyone surprised? Anyone choosing to develop for the AppStore is in the position of a sharecropper iin APple's Orchard. (Reg Brathwaite wrote an awsome article on this at http://weblog.raganwald.com/2004/11/sharecropping-in-orchard...) The owner reserves the right to be as much of a dick as he wants to be, wrt how his land is used by the sharecroppers. That's how sharecropping works.
There is nothing in wrong in being a sharecropper if that is what someone wants to do, but I don't get the angst. When the owner says "jump" the correct response from a sharecropper is "How high"?
That was never rescinded, they just eased the acceptance a bit as people poked and prodded the boundaries. People were looking to make a quick buck by skirting the rules.
This isn't a matter of Apple being dickish, this is a matter of folks taking known risks and getting whacked on the head for it.
Apple first disapproved of adult content. Then they added rather draconian ratings for apps and of course, parental controls. Then borderline-adult content started being really popular on the store. If Apple really really really didn't want this content on the app store, they shouldn't've approved it in the first place.
Can we really expect any other situation? And why couldn't Apple go one step further with ratings/controls and provide an adults-only app store area?
My biggest concern (other than the lack of adult content available to me) is that Apple can first approve and be okay with selling such content, and then turn around and remove them all from the app store because other people supposedly complained too much about a specific group of apps. It was bad enough dealing with their arbitrarily defined and enforced restrictions and approval guidelines. Okay, they're the gatekeepers, and they can do whatever they want, but that makes it a lot harder for me to work as I really don't know what Apple's whims will be like when it comes to an app idea I'm considering.
I wrote two apps for the SuicideGirls[NSFW], and one has since been removed.
SG is sexual, but not out right porn. Apple can do what it wants, but it kind of sucks that an entire company's branding is essentially banned or "in review" for 3 months.
Yes, they have Safari, but that harkens back to the web vs native app debate.
This definitely seems capricious, and it certainly must have some chilling effect on anyone considering building an app for the iPhone. From my limited perspective as a lefty computer geek, this seems like a real blunder.
On the other hand, half the country lives in "fly over" America, and doesn't want to see smut or have their children subjected to smut on the iPod. So, I can see how this decision was made.
This definitely seems capricious, and it certainly must have some chilling effect on anyone considering building an app for the iPhone.
It'll have a chilling effect on people who want to build an application with wobbling tits in it, but I don't see that as a bad thing. It's not just people in the mid-West who don't want smut in the App Store.
I can easily find smut on the Internet via my iPhone if I want it. I don't need it to be in the App Store.
i don't need anything to be in the app store myself, but luckily for you "i don't need anything to be in the app store" is not the same as "i need the app store to be empty".
is that clear? there's a difference between not caring and forcing your opinions on others.
I have always thought that those truly secure in themselves find it easy to live and let live. Those with doubts seem (have?) to go overboard to enforce their world view on others. Maybe it lessens their insecurity, maybe they're trying to remove temptations on themselves, ...
And Apple's just a business. Getting points with (potential) customers is all well and good until there's a noticeable impact on the bottom line for doing so. Nobility's gotta pay the bills, too.
There is nothing in wrong in being a sharecropper if that is what someone wants to do, but I don't get the angst. When the owner says "jump" the correct response from a sharecropper is "How high"?