After loads of speculation about Apple‘s sudden, sweeping ban of more than 5,000 sexually suggestive iPhone apps — ranging from pornography to pictures of women in bikinis — the company’s head of worldwide product marketing, Philip W. Schiller, has explained where Apple is coming from.
In an interview with the New York Times, Schiller says that complaints from “women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see” led Apple to institute its ban on sexually provocative iPhone apps.
Why, then, did Apple give racy Playboy and Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue apps free passes, even as they shut down an app from a swimwear vendor that featured women wearing the bikinis they were trying to sell?
Apple’s explanation to the New York Times:
When asked about the Sports Illustrated app, Mr. Schiller said Apple took the source and intent of an app into consideration. “The difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format,” he said.
So: it’s OK to violate the rules that are supposedly meant to be universal benchmarks — whose seemingly arbitrary application will wipe out the little guy from time to time — provided you’re a big and well-connected publisher. Mahalo parallels, anyone?
(via New York Times. image via Libero.it)
Published: Feb 23, 2010 09:31 am