And just like that, the iPhone App Store is once again safe for children, people at work, and those who enjoy the iron fist of an anonymous application reviewer gently controlling their hardware / software ecosystem. Yep, the "Hottest Girls" application has been yanked after
just a few hours of availability, and
it's no secret why: although the app was clearly labeled and approved under iPhone OS 3.0's app rating and parental control guidelines, naked-ladies-on-the-iPhone was quickly becoming too much news for Apple's squeaky-clean image to bear. Of course, that once again prompts us to remind everyone that this exact same content is easily accessible through any number of applications on the iPhone, like, say,
Safari, and that the App Store's
arbitrary and capricious review procedures are an incredible liability to an otherwise dominant platform, but honestly, no one's listening because they'd rather talk about boobs. Good work.
Update: Interesting -- the
dev's site now says that Hottest Girls has been "pulled" because their servers were "reaching their limits" and that the app will be back up soon, naughty pictures intact. We're guessing that means their image servers are cracking under the strain, but we'll see if this app or others like it make a reappearance anytime soon.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted June 25th 2009 1:27PM
um www.chicksnbreasts.com
Don't need an app for that
Sigh, you're not a practicing lawyer anymore, Nilay, not to mention the fact that Apple isn't a federal agency... you can stop with the administrative review standard ;-)
Why would anyone want to watch porn on an iphone (or any mobile device)?? I mean it's not like you really need that content "mobile" do you - what are you gonna do, watch "Russian Institute" on a subway or a bus? And if it's not mobile then you might as well watch it on a proper 22" (or more) screen instead of iphone's 3.5". Not to mention that it sucks down bandwidth faster than Jenna Jameson sucks down... well, I'm gonna keep it PG rated after all. ;)
haha...looks good
Ummm ... apology, Engadget?
No? Look, you got it wrong, and badly wrong. You blamed Apple, but it had nothing to do with Apple. You even flew off the handle a bit ("too much news for Apple's squeaky-clean image to bear") which is embarrassing. You ought to apologise to your readers for this basic error.
This would not have happened, had you (and TUAW, and the blogosphere generally) not decided that you were going to get on your high horses about app approval, and make yourself judge, jury and executioner.
Maybe next time you're thinking about writing another "oh lord help us, an app store rejection" article, you'll stop and consider whether you're in possession of sufficient facts to make such a judgemental article.
Maybe you'll consider writing an *objective* article that simply states the facts, along with the positions of both the developer AND Apple (you've previously only bothered reporting the developer's side of the argument, which is nothing other than biased reporting ... this is Journalism 101, you know, as is apologising when you make a mistake).
I love Engadget, I couldn't imagine living without your RSS feed, but seriously, the biased, opinionated and erroneous reporting that you've done on App Store rejections has really lowered the quality of the site and detracted from the good work that you do. I'm hoping it ends with this particular sorry saga.
True, these iphone apps were too much for Apple to bare (read: not bear). Apple thanks again for nothing.
What did you expect? All the unscrupulous iPhone nerds only have porn to get them through the night (day?).