wildchocolate

When Apple began banning sexually explicit (read: trashy content) from the app store last week, there was a plethora of backlash coming from both sides of the argument. Most definitely the developers of these apps were upset, and rightly so, in the fact that they worked on creating these applications, got approved to sell in the store, started earning a living, only to suddenly have it taken away without explanation. One developer, Fred Clarke, co-president of a small software company called On the Go Girls, who lost 50 apps (how one even comes up with 50 different naked woman apps is beyond me) told Wired:

It’s very hard to go from making a good living to zero. This goes farther than sexy content. For developers, how do you know you aren’t going to invest thousands into a business only to find out one day you’ve been cut off?

From the perspective of developers like Clarke, Apple’s sudden removal of their work is unfair and financially troubling.

On the other hand, parents and customers can breath a sigh of relief that no longer will the app store be cluttered with derogatory, offensive materials. Or can they?

Behind the Decision

The head of Apple product marketing, Phil Schiller, explained the problem to the New York Times:

Over the last few weeks a small number of developers had been submitting an increasing number of apps containing very objectionable content. It came to the point where we were getting customer 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.

This is understandable as well, especially when you take a look at the kind of apps we are talking about here. Since I was obviously not a customer for these kinds of apps, I was shocked to learn about the — dare I say this — creativity that was applied to what can only be described as pornographic software. Here are a couple examples…

SlideHer: A puzzle where you reassemble an image of a barely dressed woman

Sexy Scratch Off: Fling off a woman’s dress by swiping your finger to reveal her underwear (I have to admit this one makes me laugh)

Schiller acknowledged the effect this decision has had on the developers of applications like SlideHer and Sexy Scratch Off but stated:

We obviously care about developers, but in the end have to put the needs of the kids and parents first.

Considering that a major part of Apple’s market includes parents purchasing computers for their children, as well as women, this seems like a smart business decision. Particularly with the iPad which will potentially become the computer for students.

Mac Developers are Conflicted

There are basically three different arguments from the developer perspective:

What’s to stop Apple from pulling my app next?

Developers who fit into this category, are generally people who were already concerned about the essentially arbitrary, closed decision process by which Apple rejects applications from the store. They see fellow developers lose their entire income source in the blink of an eye and say we can’t let Apple get away with this!

We can all benefit from a less trashy, higher quality app store!

Developers in this group are excited by the prospect of removing the clutter in the app store, to allow the higher quality, more purposeful applications shine through. As iPhone developer Wally Chang put it:

There just seems to be too many of these really simple applications that do nothing but show pictures of girls in bikinis or in suggestive, adult poses. It’s cluttering up the App Store.

We hate hypocrites!

The fact that Apple has removed all these small third party sex apps and allowed big names like Playboy, Maxim, and Sports Illustrated to stay is hypocritical.

I particularly like John Gruber’s take on this argument:

What I see as hypocritical about Apple’s decision here is not about the fact that you can access the same sort of content via MobileSafari, but rather about the exceptions granted to Sports Illustrated, etc. I see why: Sports Illustrated, Victoria’s Secret, and Playboy are not just strong brands but also quality brands. But who’s to say some new brand couldn’t be just as good? The best apps in all sorts of categories across the board in the App Store are frequently from new companies, building new brands. It’s no more fair for the “hot chicks in bikinis” category to be occupied solely by existing major brands like Sports Illustrated/Victoria’s Secret/Playboy than it would be if the, say, photo manipulation category were occupied solely by Adobe and Corel, or if games were only allowed from companies like EA.

My stance is somewhere in between the second and third argument. On the one hand, I am a Mac developer who would like to see better quality apps in the app store, without some of the sleezy and poorly written crap thrown in there, and see this as just one step towards that goal. But I am also a woman, and I find that these applications are, while not affecting my life in anyway, unnecessary and pathetic. I think a lot of guys would agree as well. Let’s have a little class, people! Although I know for the most part it’s just all in good fun — I just have no reason personal, or business related, to support those applications staying. Every way I look at it, I’d rather see them gone.

Still, I find that I am annoyed by the hypocritical approach of rejecting the little trashy guys, but not the big name nudity. I think if it were me losing my apps while Sports Illustrated had basically the same content, but got to stay, I would be pissed.

Apple’s Response to the Hypocrite Argument

As reported by Wired:

Schiller explained that the Playboy and Sports Illustrated apps came from more reputable companies. “The difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format,” Schiller said.

What a load of crap.

The Bottom Line

To me, it seems like a business decision. Apple cannot afford to antagonize companies like Sports Illustrated and Playboy, but at the same time, they can’t afford to allow their store to become cluttered with porn and therefore lose big as far as their image and brand is concerned. Especially with the iPad coming out soon. They found a solution, and they executed it. As a woman, I’m glad to see as many trashy apps go as possible. Strictly from a developer perspective, I pretty much come to the same conclusion.