Continuing the sweep we saw the beginnings of last week, Apple has been pulling down apps that have even the tiniest bit of titillation. Not content with just hitting softcore porn and bikini apps, Cupertino have yanked apps that feature characters in booty shorts. It’s being reported that over 5,000 apps have been cut, in what can only be called a brutal cull of anything sexual.
The creator of the Wobble app talked to Apple to try and get to the bottom (heh) of what they would and wouldn’t allow. This is what he found:
1. No images of women in bikinis (Ice skating tights are not OK either)
2. No images of men in bikinis! (I didn’t ask about Ice Skating tights for men)
3. No skin (he seriously said this) (I asked if a Burqa was OK, and the Apple guy got angry)
4. No silhouettes that indicate that Wobble can be used for wobbling boobs
5. No sexual connotations or innuendo: boobs, babes, booty, sex – all banned
6. Nothing that can be sexually arousing!! (I doubt many people could get aroused with the pic above but those puritanical guys at Apple must get off on pretty mundane things to find Wobble “overtly sexual!)
7. No apps will be approved that in any way imply sexual content (not sure how Playboy is still in the store, but …)
He raises an interesting point: the Playboy app is still up, as are the Olympics ones—even though Apple says skating outfits are banned. Maxim has had theirs pulled. What about GQ, which often includes semi-nude pictorials with their articles.
To call this anything except puritanical repression would be disingenuous. Let’s not forget that the app store has a fully functional content rating system, and the iPhone has parental locks to prevent people from getting unauthorized content.
For Apple to suddenly decide to pull content which they don’t like smacks of a childish tantrum. Apple already strictly enforced the no-nudity rules (even though they have a rating which should allow it), and now they’re pulling off everything even vaguely sexual? That’s more than a little disturbing.
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You should put up a poll on this… agree/disagree, in favor or against, etc. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous. If the conservatives have a right to make things happen just by submitting complaints then why can’t the rest of us do the same?
Wobble at free or .99. BAD
Playboy at 13.99. GOOD
Apple’s decision on what is to be pulled. GREED
Oh big freaking deal!… So apple won’t let boobies in the app store. If all u NERDS who can’t get a real girlfriend need boob pics are that desperate then go online… Gee there’s a idea.. And get all the porn u need. GD!.. Can’t anything in this world left be pure….?
Pure? I think you’ve been misinformed of what is being pulled and what isn’t. And it’s not so much about the content but the discrimination. They say it’s because parents don’t want their children to have access to that material. Well… correct me if I’m wrong but to download anything (even FREE) on the AppStore you must have a registered credit card, right? And to have a credit card, you have to be 18 or have parents that trust you enough to let you use theirs. In other words, this makes no sense. The vast majority of this type of content is more “available” to them via the regular internet browser anyway. So then what about the Model Agency apps that have been pulled? Professional companies that distributed their app so that clients and other professionals could operate parts of their daily routine a little easier… does that seem fair? I wouldn’t exactly call that impure either.
I forgot to mention… Playboy has not been pulled because it is a “well-known company with previously published material”. This is where the debate takes root… not whether or not you have access to boobs.
Unfair maybe. But it comes down to if apple pulls an app for anything that apple says is sexually arousing or close then they have to pull all apps that are vaguely sexual. If they didn’t then the makers of the apps that they pulled would say ‘why not pull all apps then that show skin’ so see it would go either way. The part that makes me sick is that most of the soft porn apps that apple pulled were indeed being downloaded by “kids” who are under 18 who have had there parents put there credit card on the iTunes account, or they have set up there own bank account and now have there own debit card…granted these kids probably seen worse at school of at there friends house. But you have to see where apple is comming from. If they were to pull one, or a handful of apps and not all “vaguely sexual” apps then that would be WW3….
Playboy and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit apps were still allowed, Shiller said, “the difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format.”. Thats a little hypocritical…