David Goldman at CNNMoney writes:
Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) has either lost touch with its customer base or just has a bug lodged up its data port.
Evidently David is not talking about Apple’s real customer base who have recently snapped up a million iPads in the first 28 days and who have, two weeks before the release of the iPad in the UK on May 28th, completely bought up all available stock pushing shipping back to June for further orders.
That sounds more like a company which is entirely in tune with what it’s customers want.
What David is complaining about is:
In late February, Apple purged 6,000 apps it deemed “too sexy.”
…and we seem the same echoed by Ryan Tate of Gawker who vociferously argued that he and his wife want porn on their iPhones and iPads.
I can’t really see the point of the argument. The lack of ‘accounts’ on iPhone and iPad means that these devices are very personal. As a parent, I think it’s perfectly laudable to exclude these kinds of apps from the App Store. It’s not as if there’s a lack of opportunity to view porn online with Safari.
I do find it curious that we have multiple journalists from very disparate sources hounding Apple for not including porn on the App Store. Frankly they’d be the first to complain if Apple permitted this sort of content on the store. I have no idea if there are extensive laws and regulations regarding the creation and distribution of porn but I imagine there are. Apple evidently doesn’t want to get involved in that sort of debate, attempting to police ‘legal’ porn on their handheld devices – the risk is simply too great.
The journalistic position just sounds so sleazy it’s hard to sympathise.
I agree with the no pr0n position:
http://ipadtest.wordpress.com/2010/04/20/steve-jobs-keep-saying-no/
But “sexy” is not pr0n.
Hi Mike,
The trouble with a subject like this is that one man’s art is another man’s disgusting exploitation. And as I read earlier, every time Apple bans a ‘sexy’ app, they lose 5 (lonely) geeks but they gain 100 moms and dads who want a better experience for their kids.
How do you define pr0n?
Is it Playboy? Probably.
Is it an advertisement for ‘potato chips’? Possibly.
Matt. I interpret the backlash. – and I do believe it is a back lash – as against AAPL, specifically Steve Job’s autocratic moralizing. The US is the land of the 1st ammendment. The reaction is “don’t tell me what’s good or bad for me, or worse, impose your values on me”. It’s patronizing at best. Whether it’s Steve’s ideas for which apps to allow into host walled garden or what those apps can contain or even how they should perform in the background .
Meh. They’ve given us two things. A walled garden and a open meadow. And they’re recommending that if you want to do whatever you want, play in the meadow. They’ve even seeded that meadow with the best flowers and removed the rocky stones, broken glass and heroin needles. In the Walled Garden, there’s fabulous stuff too and it’s a safe environment as well but it’s well tended, there’s lemon juice to drink and cucumber sandwiches.
By building WebKit, providing Canvas and being extremely pro-active in development of standards, Apple is providing the ultimate democratic platform. A platform where you can create desktop-quality apps on the web.
Remember – Apple told everyone to make web apps. People wanted native. apple provided native with the caveat of the AppStore. People want new stuff and a small but vocal group want porn. It’s not too much to ask to push them to web apps.
End of the day, the porn industry will help us decide. They will make the compelling web apps that will allow mom and pop to view their porn.