![]() And it’s shown before that it’s a totally inconsistent hypocrite when it comes to which content it’s willing to sell. Apple is now one of the world’s largest gatekeepers to content, with a store that encompasses music, video, applications, and soon, books and magazines. Is Apple going to start blocking apps like Qik if it builds its own live streaming service? Are iFart’s days numbered? Could Apple simply ban all NC-17 rated applications because too many parents complain?Īnd then there’s an entirely different issue: censorship. It’s one thing to have an application get denied when it’s first submitted - it’s another thing entirely to have the rug pulled out from under you once your app has thousands of downloads and customers. It’s showing that it’s comfortable throwing out applications that developers have spent their time and money building, without even bothering to give them advance notice. Now Apple is moving in the other direction, and it’s setting a scary precedent. And over the last year, it began allowing more and more sexy applications - it even began offering parental controls with the iPhone 3.0 software update to help parents keep what their kids accessed in check. In December 2008, it started approving “humor” apps like iFart and Pull My Finger, as well as an NC-17 rating for adult applications. Since the App Store first launched in July 2008, Apple has gradually loosened restrictions on what kinds of applications it would approve. In effect, Apple sent a message to developers that on a platform where the rules are nebulous and anything innovative is risky, these applications were safe. But Apple made the conscious decision to lift that ban. It was only a little over a year ago that the words “Boobs” and “Booty” in an application’s description weren’t allowed. Most worrying is that “sexy” applications were already blocked at one point until Apple specifically changed its policies to begin letting them in. ![]() But it’s still a disturbing move on Apple’s part. There were some applications that included more functionality, but it’s safe to say that the average quality of the applications on the App Store has almost certainly improved because of the new ban. Now, it’s true that many of these “sexy” applications were little more than spam, featuring titillating titles, perhaps a handful of sexy photos, and little else. I’ve asked Apple to further clarify their stance - does this only apply to applications that have received complaints? Do they have any plans to specify what exactly makes an application too sexy for the App Store? I’ll be surprised if they get much more specific. If we find apps that contain inappropriate material we remove them from the App Store and request the developer to make any necessary changes to their apps in order to be distributed by Apple.” “Whenever we receive customer complaints about objectionable content we review them. This morning an Apple spokesperson sent back a response. I reached out to Apple PR to ask if they’d enacted a sweeping policy change that could affect many applications, or if they were only removing a handful of applications with especially explicit content. But it’s a policy shift that may alarm many developers - even those whose applications have nothing to do with sexy content.įirst, a little background: we’ve seen numerous reports about applications that have been pulled from the App Store for featuring sexual content, but there are still plenty of apps that have names like “Magic Boobs”. At this point, the exact nature of that ban is unclear. Update: Incredibly, the days following this story saw the app’s popularity explode even more.Last night, we reported on a new restriction that was being applied to Apple’s App Store: no more applications with “overtly sexual content”. ![]() Personally, I prefer Pull My Finger, but it’s hard to argue with iFart Mobile’s icon, which simply reads “Best Fart App!” Of course, not all fart apps are going to make it to the number one paid app position, but a number of them are selling well. But now that they glimpse the potential for big business in fart apps, expect even more to come. MacRumors ran the numbers, factoring out the 30 percent cut Apple takes from each sale, and determined that, yesterday alone, iFart Mobile made its developers $9,198.Ĭertainly, a part of this onslaught of fart apps is that Apple, which had previously rejected all crude apps, changed its policy to let them in. In fact, yesterday it hit the number one overall position with over 13,000 downloads. The $0.99 app has been in the top 100 paid apps every day since its launch, and has seen great growth. Developer InfoMedia (Joel Comm), which makes iFart Mobile, has been releasing download statistics for the app each day since it launched.
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