Can sex swing the balance of the smartphone market? Apple goes conservative

As the battle for the smartphone market is heating up, sex could be one of the factors that swings the momentum away from Apple and towards the likes of Google Android, as Apple goes ultra conservative with approval of new and existing applications for the iPhone.

According to amongst other CNET, Apple  recently notified iPhone app developers Chillifresh that they would remove the popular Wobble iBoobs app from the iTunes App Store due to its “overtly sexual” nature! It also looks like Apple has implemented the same rules across the board as several other sex/nudity oriented apps have been removed as well.

Reports from Chillifresh themselves following their talks with Apple around the issue indicates that more than 5,000 apps have been affected by the Apple nudity police / app store content policy, triggered by customer complaints, which we would guess would primarily come from the ultra conservative community that gets offended by people in underwear but is perfectly fine with farting sounds! (guess you now know our opinion on the matter).

Chillifresh has also revealed that some of the areas now included under the new application content policy from Apple includes:

• Images of women in bikinis or men in bikinis
• Images showing skin
• Silhouettes that could indiciate sexual images
• Sexual connotations or innuendo
• sexually arousing content

It is interesting though that so far the Playboy App has escaped the Apple Content Police.

Why Apple is going ultra conservative has probably more to do with positioning and marketing than politics, as they are looking to take advantage of the massive advertising market for mobiles, luring in large conservative advertisers in the US while at the same time getting their devices into the educational system (get them young and all that). Fact is that i have yet to see any content in apps that you would not find by browsing through any fashion related magazine, or by simply watching tv, so perhaps Apple should instead focus on getting the right filters in place and let us as users access any legal content of our choice.

Guess this also mean that we won’t be finding Sports Illustrated or most fashion magazines on the new Apple iPad?

* This article may contain references to the words “sex” and “nudity” in case you might be offended!

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