NaNaNaNa Hey Hey Hey Goodbye- Apple’s Latest App Store Kissoff…and Its Implications

Posted on 24 February 2010 by



A great deal had been written on Apple’s decision to pull some 5000 apps from the App Store due to their inclusion of scantily clad bodies, explicit sexual references and more. The New York Times jumped into the ring today and quoted Apple Senior VP of Marketing, Phil Schiller on the matter. (Rene Ritchie of the iPhone Blog has a great synopsis of it.)

I have long maintained that Apple has every right to determine what apps make it into the App Store and what don’t. Heck, if Apple wanted to require every developer to include a smiley face on the splash screen of their app that is without their rights. :) If they want to prohibit the use of “Carolina Blue” in their apps that is their right. (And as a Blue Devil I would whole-heartedly support such a position.) :0

Apple has the right to determine what apps are available in their App Store. We, on the other hand, have the right to choose whether to buy devices that require the use of Apple’s App Store or not. Simple.

But Apple’s actions do raise two significant questions for me.

First- I have a hard time understanding how Apple can summarily pull applications from the App Store apparently without warning. Developers have to wait for admission to the App Store yet their apps can be pulled without notice based upon their whims of the day. IT IS NOT RIGHT. At a minimum Apple should give developers a week or two of notice and the chance to correct what is at issue. To leave developers wondering from day-to-day if their app is will going to be allowed in the App Store or not is just… well… slimy. As Ritchie points out your choice has come down to this…

Stick to safe, friendly games and helpful utilities and you should be fine. Push any boundaries corporate or familial and you could be gone.

And the operative word is COULD. You see, 5000 apps were pulled. The Playboy app, FHM and other “major players” weren’t. Seems Apple has their favorites too.

Second- This action reveals yet again that long-standing apps are totally vulnerable to being pulled from the Apps Store. Mix that in with the fact that Apple’s reasons for ditching apps includes the app “replicating core functionality” and we have a potential train wreck coming. You see, Apple doesn’t yet have a native eBook reader on the iPhone. That means the Kindle app, the B&N app and the eReader app are all safe. (Relatively speaking) When the iPad comes out it WILL include Apple’s own eBook app. We can also assume there will be some form of it for the iPhone too. Does this mean the other eBook apps not replicate core functionality? Has Apple set up precedent for pulling those apps when the iBook app is ready? Would that push you over the edge and away from Apple’s ecosystem?


This post was written by:

- who has written 2795 posts on Gear Diary.

Having a father who was heavily involved in early laser and fiber-optical research, Dan grew up surrounded by technology and gadgets. Dan’s father brought home one of the very first video games when he was young and Dan remembers seeing a “pre-release” touchtone phone. (When he asked his father what the “#” and “*” buttons were his dad said, “Some day, far in the future, we’ll have some use for them.”) Technology seemed to be in Dan’s blood but at some point he took a different path and ended up in the clergy. His passion for technology and gadgets never left him. +Dan Cohen

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  • http://www.geardiary.com Douglas Moran

    What happens if you’ve already downloaded and installed an app, and Apple pulls it? Does it get deleted from your Mac or PC, and then removed from you iPhone or iPod Touch at next sync?

  • Dan Cohen

    I don’t have any of these apps but my experience with other apps that have been retro-canned is that they continue to work so long as you have them in your account. BUT that isn’t a guarantee when the first OS update comes along. With an update all bests could be off.

    So for now your “friend’s” collection of bikini apps should be safe. :)

  • http://www.geardiary.com Douglas Moran

    I found a few in iTunes when I was searching on something completely unrelated. (Not unlike when I was searching for Fred Astaire dance numbers on YouTube and ended up with the video for “Destination Calabria.” Look it up, and you’ll see why my expecting-Astaire brain was temporarily short-circuited.) I thought it was pretty amusing that most of the descriptions were in Japanese. Or maybe it was Chinese; I honestly don’t know how to tell the difference.

  • http://mlearning.edublogs.org mlearning

    I wonder if they’ll start removing songs from iTunes due to sexualised or explicit coverart? There are LOADS of *really* risque images that appear on CD covers!

  • http://www.geardiary.com Douglas Moran

    I’ve wondered that too, but it seems *really* unlikely, given that those kinds of songs are frequently *featured* right up on top. I guess sometimes money overcomes “moral outrage.” If there’s enough money involved.

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