The PalmPre versus Apple iTunes Sync Fight is Confusing

According to today’s news, the PalmPre is once again able to sync directly with Apple’s iTunes.

This will last exactly as long as it takes for Apple to figure out how disable the feature and then PalmPre users will be temporarily blocked once again.

Now, I can see why Apple might have a lot of hate for the PalmPre.  It was developed almost completely by ex-Apple folk and was released in an attempt to be a direct competitor to the iPhone, though most critics agree it loses in any sort of head-to-head battle.

What I don’t understand is why Apple thinks blocking the PalmPre’s ability to sync to iTunes is a wise move. Sure, it takes away a capacity many people like in their media players but it also opens the door wide to competitors looking to give folks a reason to try something other than iTunes as a media manager.  People will only look for an alternative if they can’t get access to the original, popular and rather well made iTunes software.

Not only that, but this discourages PalmPre owners from purchasing any music via iTunes.  This is a direct loss of potential revenue and again offers a great opportunity for competitors to step in and offer an alternative.

Considering how much effort is going into blocking the PalmPre from syncing with iTunes, Apple clearly has  their reasons.  I just can’t seem to fathom those reasons.

Apple Approves Marijuana Finder for iPhone, Still No Boobs.

It’s becoming redundant to question the logic behind those apps that Apple approves for the iPhone and those that are rejected.

Still, when they do something like this it forces a reaction:

Apple has approved a new $2.99 iPhone app, aptly named Cannabis [iTunes link]. It’s made by the also appropriately-named Ajnag.com. The purpose of the app is to help locate legal medical marijuana in states and locations where it can be found.         LINK

Now, I don’t personally have a problem with people having more convenient ways to find pot but the truth is that, according to Federal law, the stuff is still illegal, no matter how many Californian’s with a touch of “insomnia” and a note from their doctor beg to differ.

Meanwhile, last I checked, there were no laws against adults looking at naked pictures of each other.

So, just to recap: illegal drug finders are allowed in the iPhone App Store but anything displaying a pair of naked boobs is banned.

Got that?

Nudes Still No-Go For iPhone but Booze Apps No Problem

Since Apple has decided, wrongly, to play moral gate-keeper over the App Store, banning any iPhone App they deem “inappropriate” for a score of muddy reasons, I think it is fair to ask why they are banning nude women but happily allowing booze brands like Absolut to promote drinking through sponsored applications.

Absolute’s new iPhone App, “Drinkspiration” is free to all and simply requires that the downloader click a box promising that they are over the age of 17.  Now, let’s forget about how worthless this is as an effective age barrier, how about the fact that the legal drinking age in the US is 21?

In truth, I don’t think Apple should ban this App, or any other App for that matter.  Instead, I am trying to make the point that Apple has opened itself up to a world of criticism now from all  sides.  If they ban the App they are unwanted gatekeepers and if they allow it then they are aiding in the corruption of America’s youth.

Maybe Apple will someday relinquish their role and let adults decide what they want to see in the App store but until then I hope Apple gets nothing but grief for every decision, pro or con, they make in regards to Application approval.

Apple Releases New Sexy App Guidelines for Developers

After the release, and subsequent takedown of the first iPhone App to display naked boobs, “Hottest Girls,” Apple has put out a new set of guidelines to help developers steer clear of a similar fate.

Apple iPhone App “Sexy” Guidelines:

1) Apps containing nothing but pictures of women over the age of 18 will be permitted in the App Store as long as said women are not exposing any of their “bathsuit suit” parts.

2) Apps may allow users to undress said women as long as they only take off a single layer of clothing.  Removal of more than one layer of clothing will get you banned.

3) All said women must wear underwear that covers the entire pubic region (don’t make me say the v-word) and at least one-third of the tuchus while exposing none of the separation between cheeks.  On top, said women may expose as much boob as they can without showing the world even a glimpse of areola or nipple.  Therefore, the smaller said woman’s areola, the more breast can be exposed.  Now, nipples. They can poke through the thinnest, wettest fabric you’ve got, but the user may NOT see the actual nipple skin.

4) Apps may allow users to manipulate the breasts of said women via the touch-screen as long as they user is not able to see the actual flesh being manipulated.

5) Similar Apps featuring scantily clad men will be banned due to the fact that they may cause homosexuality, thus violating the App Store’s basic TOS.

Apple hopes this clears things up in the “sexy” App department.  Look forward to more guidelines from Apple including “Words and Phrases to Avoid in eBooks” and “What’s Ok to Gun Down.”

Real Porn (Well, Boobs, Anyhow) Coming to iPhone Apps

According to Macenstein, an iPhone app maker has decided to challenge the Apple ban on porn in the App Store:

The app responsible for taking iTunes’ virginity is called “Hottest Girls” ($1.99), an app that until today was merely a bunch of Asian chicks in lingerie. However the app has gone through a massive update, and besides now boasting “You should be happy to know that the new update contains 99% non-Asian images”, it is now the first officially sanctioned iTunes app to contain topless photos.

Now, it seems likely that even before I hit publish that Apple will take down this app and perhaps even exert their power to remove the app iPhones that have already purchased the app.

The question is, should Apple do this?  If they don’t you can definitely expect to see a flood of porn-related Apps dominating the App Store.  I mean, the argument has been made that the internet itself was created originally as a better way to get porn to the masses.

Anyone wanting to see naked girls on their iPhone can always hop on Safari but if you are offline you are out of luck.  New Apps like “Hottest Girls,” while beyond silly, certainly solve that problem.

The whole issue of Apple being the moral police of what applications consenting adults put on their iPhone has always been contentious.   Apple has a great opportunity to create a reasonable age-verification process all allow users to decide just how much immoral content they can handle.

Not only would this be a big income generator but it will offer yet another reason NOT to jail-break your phone.  Something Apple would really like to see stopped.

Unfortunately, I doubt Apple will see it that way and it will be some time before the App Store opens up to all perversions.

Apple Loves Soft Core Porn Apps Like SuicideGirls Flip Strip

The ongoing saga of Apple’s idiotic idea to police iPhone apps continues to do nothing but confuse and annoy both users and developers.

While developers hoping to add real usefulness to the iPhone with new eBook readers find themselves being rejected because it might let someone download the public domain version of the Kama Sutra, makers of what amounts to soft-core porn seem to have no problems getting approval.

For instance, the Sucide Girls Flip Strip application.  Here is what it does.  It presents a still photo of a young woman in clothes. When you flip the phone over it reveals the same girl in just her underwear.

While there is not explicit nudity there is nothing beyond prurient value here.

Now, I’m not saying Apple should ban apps like this. Instead, I think Apple should stop trying to play morals cop and let the grown up owners of the iPhone decide whether or not they want to buy any app that can be developed.

Apple’s “Closed” App Store Actually Hurts Profit Potential of iPhone

The word on the web the last day or so is that Apple has only made somewhere between $20-$50 million from the sale of iPhone Apps.  While not chump change, it doesn’t make a big impression on Apple’s overall revenue.

As SAI says:

Apple has said publicly that its plan is to run the App Store near breakeven. The main idea is to make money by selling iPhones and iPods, which Apple is doing nicely.

If the point of Apps is to boost the sale of iPhone, why would Apple be so against opening up the App Store to all application? Why not step away from the constantly problematic position of moral/ethic/technical boarder guard and let Apps for the iPhone be an open marketplace?

The coolest Apps out there are often only currently available to the few out there willing to jailbreak their iPhones, voiding their warantee and risking having their iPhones bricked with Apple’s latest update.

Many of the Apps that Apple have rejected (video recording, cut and paste, etc.) are exactly the ones that would encourage more people to buy an iPhone and that’s where Apple claims all their profit lies.

It’s also downright creepy and weird for Apple, a hardware/software company, suddenly trying to decide what is “appropriate” content.  Since the iPhone comes with a web browser capable of opening the pages of porn sites, it seems completely absurd to tell adults they can’t have certain software because it violates some vague concept of morality in the eyes of Apple.

Not only that, but because of Apple’s crazy position as gatekeeper there is a constant stream of bad press on which App was or wasn’t accepted by Apple.  What does Apple get for all this negative press?  If they just opened up the system they would have a simple defense: Hey, it’s not our job to tell people what they can and can’t do with their iPhones once they buy them.

Apple’s Stranglehold on iPhone Apps is Puzzling

There is a pretty good overview in the NYT about Apple’s attempts to make is declared somehow illegal to jailbreak your iPhone:

downloading a bit of software that bypasses Apple’s restrictions and allows the installation of unsanctioned third-party programs.

Forgetting the legal issues surrounding this question, I find myself struck by just how audacious, and ultimately doomed to fail, it is for Apple to try and lock the iPhone platform so that only software it approves is usable.

Aside from pure gaming systems (XBox, etc.), I can’t think of a legitimate computing platform that attempts to exert this level of control.  Even on my Mac I can download and install any software I choose.  Sure. I risk crashing my computer, but it is my computer and it is mine to crash.

I understand the financial advantages of Apple being the sole outlet for iPhone Apps but it doesn’t seem likely that they can maintain this position if they continue to so tightly restrict the applications offered for sale.  As long as Apple blocks useful or entertaining apps from their shop there will be plenty of people willing to do whatever it takes to get access to the banned content.

According to the NYT, the jailbrak community doesn’t appear to be posing a signficant threat to Apple’s bottomline, either:

William H. Greene, a professor of economics at New York University who studies digital entertainment, said most jailbreaking software is free and does not hurt sales of the iPhone. Some applications available through the independent channels had been rejected by Apple for inclusion in its store. “It’s hard to see where Apple is being harmed by this,” he said.

It would be nice to see Apple, on its own, examine and reevaluate their positions both on having to approve of the content of Apps before sale and on their Sisyphean efforts to halt jailbreaking but something tells me they will have to be forced their by the market.

LINK

Apple Buys BitTorrent’s Bad Press

Engadget is reporting on Apple latest wacko move blocking a new iPhone app:

This time the company’s rejected Maza’s Drivetrain, an app that allows users to remotely control the Transmission Bittorrent app, because “this category of applications is often used for the purpose of infringing third party rights.” Right, “this category of applications,” apparently meaning any app that has anything to do with Bittorrent at all.

For those still in the dark, BitTorrent is a file-transfer protocol that allows users to easily share digital content.  The challenge for those involved in trying to develop and expand upon this extremely useful and effective protocol is that it has been, it seems, inextricably linked to web piracy since torrent sharing sites like The Pirate Bay and Mininova host links to both legal and copyprotected content.

Apple’s move to block this application is just one in a long line of potentially damaging decisions by Apple as it tries to police how people use their iPhones.  What’s so absurd is that there isn’t another computing platform I can think of that so strictly tries to control the actions of its users.

Imagine if you get a PC and then discovered you could only buy software from a single maker and they only made software they thought was “acceptible” to them – so you, an adult who has completely purchased the computer can no longer buy violent videogames or eBooks with explicit sex. That would be insane but so far iPhone users are accepting that deal.

How long will Apple be able to keep jail-breakers at bay as more unapproved apps make it to the pirate sites?\

LINK

Baby Shaker iPhone App Short-Lived

Considering how hard it was for iFart to be approved for sale in the iPhone app store, one really has to wonder how an app called “Baby Shaker” made it through all the red tape.

For a relatively brief time, “Baby Shaker” was available for purchase at the iTunes app store. Now, after a few major blog posts and tons of twitters, the app has been removed.

Still, how did this ever get listed in the first place?

Other apps recently pulled by Apple include Nazi Sympathizer, iKKK, Puppy Kicker Lite, Skin the Cat, PedoFinder2 and Sexting: The Game.