Explicit iTunes Apps on the Way with Apple survives puberty
Aha! So this is what all that seemingly puritanical deletion of vaguely boob-related iPhone apps was really all about: Apple is on the verge of approving an “Explicit” category for apps in iTunes. May cover e-books too.
There was much hand-wringing online about the way Apple just handled its purge of ever-so-slightly-adult-content apps on the App Store, and Phil Schiller even stepped in to weakly explain that Apple was getting complaints from women (meanwhile, leaving the Playboy app and apps objectifying men still on sale). Commentators wondered if Apple made a play for the education market squeaky-clean, or has been concerned about family image. I was going to write an article decrying the spirit of Apple, narrow, from my perspective as a European with a more carefree attitude towards issues such as the rose-pixel, and express my moral outrage at Apple squeamish.
But now everything is clear. Apple’s iTunes, which actually occurred in the phrase “members of the opposite sex is icky” stage of emotional development and accelerated puberty to accept the consequences of adult sexuality. CultofMac folk spotted that Apple’s added a new “Explicit” category in the bit of iTunes Connect for App Store submissions that plugs into the parental controls built into iPhones. MacRumors subsequently confirmed it, and notes it sits alongside the more usual categories like “books” and “entertainment.”
Clearly Apple’s business development team think along the same lines as my article arguing that one future driver for the iPad’s success will be porn. It’s just a fact of life. But there is an interesting participation in this new movement of Apple, of course: an “explicit” application can be anything from a portal to an adult content producer of cinema, theater, erotic fiction, a social networking tool.And once Apple’s embraced this sort of content…can we wonder if there’ll be naughty books in the iBooks app alongside adult videos in the iTunes Movie store? Not yet, I’d suggest. At least until Apple’s patented some clever iPhone/iPad tech that auto-detects if you’re over 18.
