Does Apple Really Need To Parent Your Children For You?
Apple has nanny-ed away the small-time, independent developers of "adult" apps for the iPhone, removing thousands from the iPhone store (although the big, established companies like Playboy remain). Very uncool. From the BBC:
When asked why some apps with adult content had remained intact he said that Apple took into consideration how "well-known" companies were as well as whether they had "previously published material".ChilliFresh is an Australian company that creates apps for the iPhone, including the recently banned Wobble, which allows users to add 'wobble' functionality to any picture. The firm markets the app by suggesting people can use it to wobble women's breasts.
"I'm now worried the eco-system is run by puritans and is not fair to all players," developer Jon Atherton said on its website.
"And worst of all it is not a secure source of income. It can drop to close to zero if they decide to change the rules," he added.
The firm was making £320 a day out of its apps, a figure which has dropped to £5 since the ban, he said.
"On Friday evening we got an e-mail out of the blue which basically said, thanks very much but we don't want you any more. Apple said it was removing all overtly sexual apps," he told the BBC.
He said that if Apple was serious about protecting young customers it should allow parents to set controls for devices.
Or don't give your kid a damn iPhone.
The iPhone and the iTouch do have parental controls.
Elle at February 24, 2010 10:15 AM
The iPhone can hold movies to keep the little darling amused.
I hope my daughter doesn't read this. She turned out fine, ignores my wife's advice, and my granddaughter is a bit of a handful. Not a bad kid, but let's just say the limits are regularly tested, and I sure wish I had her energy.
I guess it takes a degree in Psychology to ignore your own experience in favor of theories that don't work particularly well...
MarkD at February 24, 2010 10:26 AM
You shouldn't go running into Apple's arm's for the shelter of their neatly-balanced ecosystem and then complain that there are constraints. That's what you're paying that extra money for....
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at February 24, 2010 11:47 AM
I think Apple is making a huge mistake here... they're doing business like it's still 2008 and the iPhone has no competitors. They keep this up and the Droid and other soon-to-come competitors with more open platforms might wind up mopping the floor with them.
It's weird because Apple is like two different companies sometimes. There's the pretty cool desktop/laptop division, and then there's the increasingly psychotic hand-held division. I just hope the latter doesn't wind up infiltrating the former.
Cousin Dave at February 24, 2010 12:24 PM
"I'm now worried the eco-system is run by puritans and is not fair to all players," developer Jon Atherton said on its website.
"And worst of all it is not a secure source of income. It can drop to close to zero if they decide to change the rules," he added.
Not sure what Mr. Atherton's point is. Sounds like iPhone application development is a competitive business, and Apple sometimes changes its mind about what to support. Run by Puritans? How awful. Unless the Puritans in question are trying to respond to their customer base, in which case they're just businessmen.
I don't have an Apple phone, nor do I plan to get one, so I don't have a doggy in this fight, but one suspects Apple will find out soon enough via sales if they made the right move or not,
old rpm daddy at February 24, 2010 12:26 PM
This is the main reason I'm toting a G1 instead of an iPhone, because Apple is all about doing it their way or the highway. I'm confident the marketplace will sort this out.
MonicaP at February 24, 2010 12:45 PM
Yeah, I'm not real sympathetic to Mr. Atherton simply because this is how Apple has been doing business for awhile and there have been many complaints of this type regarding iphone apps etc..
I agree with Monica that the market will sort it out eventually. I can see why folks like their iphone though. I broke down and bought an itouch for mp3/video and the wifi is quite handy along with being able to buy stuff from itunes right off the ipod. I couldn't buy an iphone though because of the many faults the Apple system has with their apps, or the lack of an easily changable battery, and the only att phone plans (not the greatest reception in my area).
Sio at February 24, 2010 1:14 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/02/24/does_apple_real.html#comment-1697644">comment from MonicaPDespite my grousing about the Apple nannies, the iPhone is an absolutely amazing, life-changing device, and I love mine. I make few calls on it, by the way.
Amy Alkon at February 24, 2010 1:14 PM
Apple took into consideration how "well-known" companies were as well as whether they had "previously published material".
Translated: Is this company big or popular enough to get more people on their side than ours, or can we just walk all over them?
And I love my iPhone. When the iPod first came out, I thought it was really cool, but not something I would buy for myself. Well, the iPod mini was a birthday present, and I don't know how I lived without it. Ditto for the iPhone. And I am so not one of those people who can't go five minutes without getting their phone out and checking it.
NumberSix at February 24, 2010 1:20 PM
Apple is made in China.
Next question.
Ken at February 24, 2010 1:46 PM
Despite my grousing about the Apple nannies, the iPhone is an absolutely amazing, life-changing device, and I love mine. I make few calls on it, by the way.
Posted by: Amy Alkon at February 24, 2010 1:14 PM
So,
Amy,
Let me guess; Thanks to the iPhone, ... you are gay now?
Ken at February 24, 2010 1:48 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/02/24/does_apple_real.html#comment-1697655">comment from KenThanks to the iPhone, I don't need to wake Gregg up in Detroit when I get lost in some bad part of L.A.
Amy Alkon at February 24, 2010 1:55 PM
Seriously, the iPhone GPS is amazing. It finds you automatically (if you have a signal on your phone) and has great directions. I think mine could find me on Mars and direct me back to Nashville.
NumberSix at February 24, 2010 2:02 PM
Apple is made in China. Next question. Your point, please? And most RIM devices are manufactured in China or Mexico.
NumberSix at February 24, 2010 2:05 PM
What do you expect? This is the same company that labelled a Pogues' album Rum, S****y, and the Lash.
Conan the Grammarian at February 24, 2010 2:40 PM
"I'm confident the marketplace will sort this out."
It has.
Radwaste at February 24, 2010 4:56 PM
But look at the unintended consequences. But look at what money Apple looses out. You think it starts with just one app not bought. Tell a customer no - they will either accept it or some will try and find a way to get yes. Which comes to Jailbreaking and unlocking. True these actions can cause people to brick their phone but people have a tendency to blame others for their malfeasance and will sour on Apple products. Still when people find out after they jailbreak their Iphone or Itouch that they can continue to get many of those APPS for FREE they will then start to not buy. So the telling one person NO can possible set the person on to never buying a product again and going with theft.
This attitude by Apple of lets protect the children is a farce because if you have a computer that is parental controlled who is the first to get past it. The Children. I see this banning of overtly sexual products as a legal maneuver. They don't want to protect the children they want to protect their asses from lawsuits.
John Paulson at February 24, 2010 6:11 PM
> I see this banning of overtly sexual products
> as a legal maneuver.
Your analysis is good, and I think this is a self-correcting thing. There are any number of good reasons not to confine yourself to the Apple playground, and their high prices are just one of them. But nobody's compelled to stick with them.
I think they're like AOL used to be for the internet... A comfortably constrained fraction of a challenging realm. But customers aren't slaves, and all someone has to do is make it clear that there's a better value to be had, and it's over.
(How long has it been since you've heard someone's computer sunnily announce "You've got mail!" at powerup?
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at February 24, 2010 10:27 PM
Yep, I agree Crid but it taking a bit of time for those others products to become available. I do see the day when Apple Company will become the American Car companies complaining about those Jap Crap, rice burners, and why don't people stick with their once great products.
John Paulson at February 24, 2010 11:22 PM
I'm a total MacHead, but I think Apple is being way too nanny state here. I mean, if you do have parental controls on the iPhone, why not let people buy what they want? If someone puts out an X-rated ap and no one buys it, you've got your answer. If they do, then you make money. Really, I don't get their need to control what I want to buy.
I think the people who have said that the new smart phones might eventually kick Apple's ass are right on, if Apple doesn't wise up.
Ann at February 25, 2010 8:22 AM
> it taking a bit of time for those others products
> to become available.
I dunno, I had one of these seven years ago.
People tend to think that Steve Jobs invents the sunrise and then leaves it to the rest of the marketplace to invent the sunset, but that's not really how it goes. His changes are never more than attractively-shaped, well-marketed enhancements to existing technology.
A lot of the people who've bought I phones wouldn't have purchase any product in the category a few years ago, just as AOL people wouldn't have been online at all. At this point it's like they've gone on a vacation to a distant hotel, but they're still sitting in the lobby at the resort. Eventually they'll get tired of the furnishings and want to see what's going on in this foreign country.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at February 25, 2010 11:34 AM
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