iPhone OS 3.0's parental controls to assuage some app submission woes?

Here's something that should help Trent reach a level of moderate contentment. Although we already knew that Apple was expanding its parental controls with iPhone OS 3.0 into the realm of TV shows, movies and App Store apps, a report today about the rejection of Makayama's Newspaper(s) app provides a good example at the ramifications of such alterations. According to iLounge, it was rejected due to a picture of a topless woman under the section for UK-based tabloid The Sun. The accompanying letter suggested a resubmission once 3.0 (and subsequently the parental controls) go public, which we take to mean that the questionable content will suddenly be okay for the App Store once it's behind the appropriate age gate. We won't know for sure until everything falls into place, but sounds like this is one part of the submission approval process that'll soon end up much less frustrating for developers.

[Via 9 to 5 Mac]

[Eli @ May 4th 2009 8:54PM]

Why are we even discussing this like app approval is ok? It's the worst possible outcome of a monopoly position. People have been screaming about Microsoft for years, despite their hardly exhibiting any monopolistic behavior. Now Apple is going ahead and telling us what we can and can't use on our personal devices, and everyone is super ok with it? I think not.

This is what the future of computing will be, and Microsoft will have nothing to do with it.

[darkmax @ May 4th 2009 8:59PM]

Actually Microsoft did an attempt at DRM and parental control, but it is free and at the users' discretion.

Apple is just getting far too arrogant.

[anthony909 @ May 4th 2009 9:03PM]

If your phone is jailbroken you can get all your apps for free with a hack. Get the installous app from cydia, i have all my apps for free.....take that Apple =)


Just google installous for directions,

Your welcome in advance

[P.A.C Man @ May 4th 2009 9:10PM]

Yeah, I agree, shut up, Eli. It's called ownership rights. You can't get hardcore porn at Walmart. You going to boycott Walmart too?

I know we're going to read a lot of fake outrage from the Anti-Apple brigade, but can someone explain to me why it's always these crappy little apps that 99 percent of iPhone/touch users don't care about, always get so much attention?

It's ridiculous. As of today, there are 40,293 apps on the App Store. I think the guys at Apple said that 96 percent of Apps get approved. So why again, is this important?

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ May 4th 2009 9:15PM]

Eli,

Please try understanding the computing industry before shooting your mouth off. You apparently know nothing about Microsoft's anticompetitive behavior over the past couple of decades. Apple has nothing like Microsoft's marketshare in ANY market, and you can hardly argue that you don't have a choice for what phone you buy.

Hint: think about how many places of employment require you to use Windows. Or how many computer mfgrs won't sell you a computer without Windows (though this has changed somewhat thanks to lawsuits).

Now show me the hordes of people who are forced to use an iPhone by their employer... good luck with that!

Don't like the ecosystem, DON'T BUY IT. This was never a choice with Microsoft.

That said, while I'm fine with Apple having an approval process for iPhone apps, I hate the prudes of the world telling us what we can and can't see because of their precious little rugrats. Fingers crossed that the parental controls will have Apple rethink their questionable content rejection process.

[SimbaDogg @ May 4th 2009 9:46PM]

@ anthony and iphone...i mean pacman dude.

are you guy seriously that pissed that others have called apple out on being the gestapo, and you're just too much blind to see it. Everything from software, to hardware (non removable battery) spews this "this is out device...and we're more than for u to use it, but you WILL use it on our terms"

please i dare you, no i'm gonna skip the double dare and go straight to the double dog dare you...to find any other smartphone on the market that is as restrictive as apples slab.

its funny how the same people that have been spelling microsoft w/ $ signs, or M$, and always talking about their monopolies etc etc etc are the same ones who are adamantly defending apples less than consumer friendly tactics. wow.

[P.A.C Man @ May 4th 2009 9:55PM]

Comparing Apple to the Gestapo? Dude, you just violated Godwin's Law. You can have no credibility after such a comparison.

I refuse to dignify such a response with a longer discussion, unless of course that you can prove that Apple is having people murdered and beaten just to keep their apps out of the App Store.

[yopladas @ May 4th 2009 10:21PM]

THANKS anthony! :D

*looks it up on cydia* *find it* *finally figures out what koifish is and oooh and aaahs*

[ED @ May 4th 2009 10:29PM]

P.A.C Man:
Godwin's law is that as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.
So Godwin's law was fulfilled, not broken.

[KevinC @ May 4th 2009 11:10PM]

ha! Eli, I think you struck a nerve :)
I agrees.

Let's see...

@anthony909- your are just straight up a prick.

@P.A.C Man- you're kinda a prick too. No, you won't find porn at wal-mart but if you would get your head out of Steve Jobs' ass you could see that dvd players purchased at wal-mart will in fact play porn. No jail breaking necessary. What does that have to do with ownership rights? oh yeah, Godwin's law, read it before you quote it, jackass.

@UnixSystemsEngineer: jesus, is everyone just in rude mode? employers requiring windows. Don't be a jackass, you know this is not due to MS requiring the employer to use windows. As for your 'choice of phone' comparison. When MS was getting in trouble for it's business practices, the general public had a choice, Windows or Apple's OS of the day. Windows was open to who ever wanted to code for it, Apple had it death grip on it's OS way back when though. Apple has always be closed and controlling. At any rate, Windows got the market share because it was better.

That is what we are saying right? 10 million iphone's sold, 40,000 apps...That means it's the best, right? Well, I guess that means that Windows is the best OS then.


Wish everyone the best (except these guys)
KevinC

[anthony909 @ May 4th 2009 11:27PM]

@ kevinc

your a straight up prick

Im just trying to save people some $

have a horrible day =)

[Alan Strangis @ May 4th 2009 11:50PM]

I'm with Eli and KevinC

I can't believe anybody (regardless of brand), likes the idea of a platform where the hardware manufacturer exercises such control over the software experience. If Microsoft did this, I'm sure you'd all be jumping down their throats (and rightly so)

With Apple you're crawling up the opposite direction, which is just wrong on multiple levels.

[Cold Bitter Truth @ May 4th 2009 11:52PM]

I agree with you Eli, but it's always funny to see the Macintards get their fruity panties in a proverbial wad. Such harsh language from the apple trolls. I thought they were supposed to be superior, more intelligent and creative than those of us who use a different OS. But nope, they kindly tell you to go fuck yourself like a hurt school boy who just saw his slutty girlfriend making out with his best friend.

It is funny though that iTunes is filled with gangsta rap yelling a bunch of nigga this, get some pussy, smoke some weed, fuck da police bunch of bullshit... but the moment you put that in an App, Apple turns into the moral police and slaps you with their big giant censor hand.

If this was Microsoft, the Apple camp would be calling Gates and Balmer a bunch of nazis or some shit like that. But since it's Apple, they get a free fucking ride as usual.

That's why I am writing this on Ubuntu... I'm not forced into a bunch of proprietary censored bullshit from the moral police from microsoft and apple... but you gotta admit, microsoft is starting to look far less evil than apple now.

[P.A.C Man @ May 5th 2009 12:26AM]

Godwin's law is both an expectation and a rule:

"It is precisely because such a comparison or reference may sometimes be appropriate, Godwin has argued, that overuse of Nazi and Hitler comparisons should be avoided, because it robs the valid comparisons of their impact. Although in one of its early forms Godwin's Law referred specifically to Usenet newsgroup discussions, the law is now applied to any threaded online discussion: electronic mailing lists, message boards, chat rooms, and more recently blog comment threads and wiki talk pages."

"For example, there is a tradition in many newsgroups and other Internet discussion forums that once such a comparison is made, the thread is finished and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically "lost" whatever debate was in progress. This principle itself is frequently referred to as Godwin's Law."



The only people that are "outraged about Apple's policies are people who already hate Apple. You guys really think someone isn't going to buy an iPhone because they can't get some crappy NIN app? Give me break.

[Cold Bitter Truth @ May 5th 2009 12:27AM]

@ UnixSystemEngineer

While Apple may not have that high of a market share in the OS market, it pretty much dominates in the MP3 world. They are doing incredibly well in the smart phone market as well. So let's not act like Apple is some poor little underdog here.

You mention computer manufacturers not selling you a computer without Windows. At least you have the freedom to install Linux on any PC you buy. It's a shame that Apple had to include something like boot camp just to make OS X seem somewhat fun and useable. If you want to play any decent games, you have to bootcamp to Windows. Apple could easily solve this by selling OS X as a standalone OS for any X86 based hardware. This is why Microsoft is kicking their ass because Windows will run on damn near anything. I'm sure the Apple fanboys will have some snooty comment about Vista not running at all or that Windows is a virus magnet, but that's ok, because they are like a broken record repeating the same thing over and over.

If you don't like the hardware or the OS, barebones it and try any multitude of linux distros... heck as a Unix engineer, you should be perfectly happy with linux or BSD. Surely you don't need some shiney overpriced system with a fancy little GUI. You're a unix guy, you should be right at home with nothing more than some sort of command line terminal.

[P.A.C Man @ May 5th 2009 12:38AM]

Your argument is specious. Apple is not in the business of selling operating systems. They sell computers and electronic devices. They're a hardware company. How is their business model any different than the Wii and Nintendo. Can you run the Wii OS on the Xbox? No, if you could run it on the Xbox, the Wii wouldn't be unique. There would be no reason to buy it.

Just because Microsoft chose to whore their operating system to everybody doesn't automatically make the business models of everybody else wrong.

[Alan Strangis @ May 5th 2009 1:06AM]

@ P.A.C Man who said: "You guys really think someone isn't going to buy an iPhone because they can't get some crappy NIN app? Give me break."

I know 3 people who've all refused put their money in it (and two are Mac-only homes) because of the App Store policies. Not a huge dent in Apple's bottom line, but hey, I guess I just hang out with a better class of people, sticking with their principles and all that.

[superhobo @ May 5th 2009 7:46AM]

Hurf hurf durf



Ok, I've contributed to this thread about as much as any of you.

[iphonerulez @ May 5th 2009 9:30AM]

What world are you living in, dude. Society has restrictions everywhere. Just because you own something doesn't mean you can do as you please with it unless you live on some private island somewhere. I'm totally against censorship, but I don't live in a world by myself. There are some parents that don't want their children watching or doing certain things. That's why they have ratings on TV shows and movies. Sure it seems bogus, but this is the way things work in America. You probably let your children watch and do anything they please and I'll try to avoid those thugs in the future.

You actually believe that every corporate app store is going to allow any app or programming without any restrictions whatsoever and won't be the target of every activist group in America.? No corporation is that big. Even people on the board of directors wouldn't go along with what your suggesting. I'm telling you that no corporate app store will allow everything and expect to stay in business.

[Skeezle @ May 5th 2009 9:36AM]

"People have been screaming about Microsoft for years, despite their hardly exhibiting any monopolistic behavior"

...hardly exhibiting any monopolistic behavior

That is the best quote ever! Literally laughed when I read it!

[jguilb @ May 5th 2009 11:21AM]

i like to argue about how apple is bad and evil ... i am an idiot .. i am like everyone else on this website.

[KevinC @ May 5th 2009 5:47PM]

@anthony909, no actually I believe you told Eli to shut the fuck up.
But please, let's not banter back and forth.
I notice you tend to respond to people with 'fuck u', and that sort of thing, a lot. Even in the most irrelevant of circumstances.

I can only assume you're some barely post-pubescent on the computer they got for christmas taking their aggression out via the anonymity of the internet.

I wish you and your raging hormones the best. Now please don't talk to me.
-KevinC

[Rachel Hills @ May 4th 2009 8:58PM]

Wow, parental/age/moderation controls on a device might actually bring about some good. (But really, more then likely will just bring about more evil.)

[darkmax @ May 4th 2009 9:00PM]

Sounds to me like the first step to user behavioral modification.

[Daz @ May 4th 2009 9:01PM]

Does parental control ever work? Never stopped me looking at 'adult' stuff on the internet

[tylerstempinski @ May 4th 2009 9:03PM]

Counseling is your best option my friend. :-)

[Daz @ May 4th 2009 9:08PM]

I mean when i was 13...

[L.M.L.Y.P @ May 4th 2009 9:07PM]

Son, get off the internet.

[Dan "the Man" @ May 4th 2009 9:10PM]

Jesus, when are we going to get some new iPhone mold spy shots compliments of The Peoples Republic China?

[bill cant fart is ANGRY! @ May 4th 2009 9:12PM]

I may use this for myself. I don't really need to see any Baby shaker and iStab apps.

[crawdad689 @ May 4th 2009 9:33PM]

PRUDE!

[Bradwart @ May 4th 2009 9:13PM]

Apple is exceeding their boundaries. Why not adopt something like the ESRB guidelines, and let the consumer decide? Don't become Apple the Almighty. And yes, I own Macs, PC's and an iPod Touch, so it's relevant to me.

[davidtrippy92 @ May 4th 2009 9:22PM]

There is a syastem put in place but it's only limited to games. Starting from 4+ to 17+ it's in the app info section.

[why not the LS2LS7? @ May 4th 2009 9:16PM]

Nothing will fix this. The more apps that are submitted, the more rejections that people find objectionably will come up. This problem will never go away.

Apple is acting as mom, dad and retailer on this, and it's not a good situation. People wanna whine about WalMart above? If WalMart won't sell your app, you can sell it elsewhere. This is not the case on the iPhone.

[P.A.C Man @ May 4th 2009 9:24PM]

WTF? Is Apple the only company that sells phones? If you don't like their policies, don't buy an iPhone. Problem solved.

[Shyam D @ May 4th 2009 9:36PM]

P.A.C Man, and yet people like you advocate that all other phones are stone-age inferior and only the iPhone should be legally allowed to be produced ( exagerated ). Apple's store is prevalent on one device that ding has a huge monopoly on it's market. That's right, mp3 players. Apple is thus able to use it's monopoly in the mp3 player market in both the music service market ala iTunes and in the general mobile app market, ala the iPhone and iPod. If you can't see this parallel you are obviously blind. I disagree an anti-trust filing against Apple for these things, because I also disagree with the anti-trust filings against Microsoft. But, the fact remains, these are very similar cases in two different markets.

[P.A.C Man @ May 4th 2009 10:03PM]

@Shyam D

Nothing you just said make a bit of sense. The company that approved over 40,000 apps and 96 percent of the apps submitted to their store, is abusing their power in devices that have nothing to do with the iPhone or iPod touch? Huh?

[Shyam D @ May 4th 2009 10:58PM]

P.A.C. Man,
Like I said, you're blind. THE APP STORE IS THE EXCLUSE WAY IN WHICH TO GET APPS ONTO THE iPHONE AND IPOD. Can you see that now? Yes, there is jail breaking, but the App store is technically the only legally sanctioned way in which to do so. Now, the iPhone may not have a monopoly, but the iPod does. The iPod, just like Windows, is considered platform technology. It is a product, and the basis for other products. The problem with IE and Windows was that MS was considered to be leveraging their monpoloy with Windows, a platform technology, as a basis to push IE, which is a legal no no. They were able to do this via limiations on their API, thus screening the applications that could sucessfully run on their platform. Hmmmm, sounds like the App store policy, which is the legal equivelant rather then the technological method.
Let's not forget that the EU cited MS for tying Windows Media player to Windows. Hmmm, Apple's exclusive Media store for the iPod is..... iTunes. Again, leveraging a product in one market that has a market monopoly to push their products in another. Like, I said before, if you can't see this parallel, you're completely blinded by your own biases. Personally, I don't have a problem with this practice, because I think the IT world naturally pushes towards integration and innovation on it's own. The market forces in this sector are powerfull enough at this point that the government shoud focus on cleaning up it's own act via patents and Communication Regulations. But, the fact remains, they are eeriely similar cases.

[Cold Bitter Truth @ May 5th 2009 12:15AM]

It's nothing like Wal Mart. If I don't like Wal Mart's selection I can go to Target, K Mart, Best Buy or whatever. I'm not FORCED to shop at Wal Mart... but if I purchase an iPhone or an iPod I am forced into iTunes by Apple. If I want to buy apps, I have to do it through iTunes, unless I jailbreak my device. So when Apple forces you into something and then acts as the moral police deciding what is right and wrong for me, that's where I have a problem.

It's a wonderful world of hypocrisy where I can buy movies and songs chalked full of material that would get an app instantly banned. So why is it OK for movies and music, but they have a completely different policy for apps? It's like the app store is being ran by Catholics R Us.

[P.A.C Man @ May 5th 2009 12:32AM]

You guys have said some of the stupidest things I've ever heard. The iPhone and iTunes is EXACTLY LIKE WALLMART. If you don't like the iPhone, buy a Blackberry or WinMo phone.


If you don't like iTunes, go to Amazon. Apple doesn't even have DRM anymore. If you don't like Amazon, go to Napster or the Zune store. I fail to see how Apple has this dangerous monopoly with all these choices in the market.

And before you say, "but... but... I can only get stuff for my iPod from iTunes."

How the hell is that any different than several other devices like the Playstation or the Wii or Xbox? I can't play Gears of War on a Playstation. I can't play Mario on an Xbox. The only reason Apple is different to you guy is because you guys HATE APPLE. Admit it.

[Cold Bitter Truth @ May 5th 2009 1:02AM]

oh P.A.C.man, you are so missing the point. With console games, I do not have to buy them at the Wii store (unless virtual) I don't have to go to the X Box Games store to buy X Box games, or to the Sony store for PS3 games. I can go to Best Buy, eBay, Block Buster and so on. There's plenty of options for getting games to play on your console. You are not limited to JUST ONE STORE! And in that JUST ONE STORE, they get to decide what is acceptable for you to play! How can you agree with this concept? I don't hate Apple. I love my 3 iPods and my iPhone, but I do not like being told what is acceptable. Let me decide by my own damn standards what I want to put on my iPod or my iPhone.

I refuse to buy music from iTunes because of their whole support of DRM. Even though they have since dropped it, I would still rather buy a used CD from Amazon and rip it myself.

As for the whole Apple makes hardware... let's be honest! If they are solely in the hardware business then why are they selling OS X updates every year or two? Why are they selling updates to iLife? For that matter why are they even making software to begin with? Apple is both a hardware and software company! The fastest way to increase market share in both is to release an open format version of OS X for the X86 environment. If Windows can run on a Mac then it should stand to reason that OS X can run on any PC. If people were given the choice of of buying an OS for $130 and they went with OS X and got used to it, then chances are later on down the road they will spring the extra cash for the Mac hardware. This is why hackintosh exists, this is why Pystar exists... some people love OS X but either can't or won't spend the extra cash for the Mac hardware. If OS X can run on the hackintosh boxes, then make an open version anyone can buy and install on any modern day PC. Where is the harm in that? How is that a stupid idea?

You may be happy with the moral gestapo controlling what you are allowed to install on your device, but I am not. This does not make me an apple hater as I have a few things by Apple including a Mac Min, AppleTV an iPhone, iPod 5g and Shuffle 1g plus an old school iMac. They make great hardware, OS X is a fine OS, but I do not like the fact they will reject an app for objectionable content when 3 clicks later you can get the same damn objectionable content in a movie or a song. Apps should be no different than movies or music.

[Anthony @ May 4th 2009 9:18PM]

Awe, that picture looked like it would be such a cool space and flames game or whateer but its JUST a NIN app. :(

[nowayman @ May 4th 2009 9:18PM]

Apple news, wee~

[Timoh @ May 4th 2009 9:22PM]

Wasn't apple the one so against a "big brother" type situation? Seems like that's the business model they've adopted. By the way, jailbreak your phone and if apple finds out they'll just throw the kill switch and you'll have an expensive paperweight on your hands. I guess you're just leasing it from them eh?

[P.A.C Man @ May 4th 2009 9:26PM]

The same company that approved 40,000 apps is big brother?

Give us some more your fake outrage. It's funny.

[Zachary Waldowski @ May 4th 2009 9:42PM]

Seriously? "Kill switch"? Know what the fuck you're talking about. I'm an owner of an iPhone in a family with three hacktivated and jailbroken devices running on AT&T's network.

[sk8ordie @ May 4th 2009 9:34PM]

ok?

[zephxiii @ May 4th 2009 9:41PM]

haha @ the album cover :D

[Phil @ May 4th 2009 10:12PM]

I just hope that 3.0 comes with a setting that will prevent my kids from moving and deleting apps and other icons

[yopladas @ May 4th 2009 10:26PM]

Already there. It's called lock and don't let them use it. :P or just watch them when they use it...