Yesterday's story about Apple
censoring the Ninjawords dictionary seems to have made some waves in Cupertino -- none other than Phil Schiller followed up with
Daring Fireball's John Gruber to provide Apple's perspective on the situation. According to Phil, Apple's objection to Ninjawords was that by using the free Wiktionary.org dictionary, it "provided access to other more vulgar terms than those found in traditional and common dictionaries," and that the App Store reviewer initially suggested the developer resubmit when iPhone OS 3.0 was launched with parental controls. Since 3.0 hadn't been released yet, the developer censored some of the words in an effort to get onto the store early, and that's how Ninjawords ended up both censored and rated 17+. Sure, okay, except that Gruber points out that the App Store reviewer flagged some pretty generic swear words, not the smack-your-momma vulgarities Phil claims are the issue. Still, the larger message remains the same -- the App Store review process is
maddeningly inconsistent and in
dire need of reform -- and on that note Phil says Apple intends to "learn and quickly improve," so it sounds like there's hope yet. Check the read link for more of Phil's response, it's an interesting read.
posted Aug 6th 2009 2:14PM
Hmmm
So I am guessing there will never be an urban dictionary app for the iPhone.
Their milkshakes were better than yours.
Apple.. Don't censor anything. Let anything in. Just bury the crappy applications.
Yeah they need to shut up and let Apple tell them what good for em!
You tell him comrade Paul-askinski. Long live mother Apple!
"Then they came for the dictionaries, but I was not a dictionary..."
The reason people would be put off about buying the iphone is because incidents like this are perceived as indicative of Apple's attitude or behaviour. People will think "hey, if they do this to googles apps and to dictionaries maybe they'll do it to other applications that I want. [Competitor] doesn't look like they would do that".
@Paul: Just a dictionary? Words aren't important to you?
@Paul - Although I have not claimed this most recent App Store issue is pushing me to a Pre (or Tour) on Sprint, it certainly is helping. My issue is certainly not with this specific app - I don't want to purchase it, nor do I even have a dictionary app on my iPhone. My issue is exactly what Nilay mentioned in the post. Apple's approval process is horrible, and goes by what the specific reviewer is thinking the day of app review.
At this point Apple needs to completely overhaul how apps are approved and denied. They need to be more transparent with the public (or at least developers) as to what *exactly* will get their app denied. This is especially needed when you have something like this dictionary app issue - Phil is saying one thing while the specific app reviewer is saying another. There needs to be a specific policy and not just "it's objectionable".
Fix this mess and maybe I'll just keep my iPhone and AT&T. I doubt it though - multitasking doesn't seem to be a big deal to Apple, nor does having reliable 3G coverage to AT&T.
"I don't know one iPhone user that cares about this story."
I'm an iPhone user, and I care about this story. I would think Apple users would too, I mean, isn't that one of the big perks of being an Apple user is the built-in dictionary?
I hate to say it, but I'm siding with Paul on this one... :O
@Paul Chapel
I have a 3GS and I love it. But this is really annoying and disturbing. The fact that Apple will shut down apps like Google Voice but allow Textfree/Text Plus is hypocritical and worrying. The fact that they'll censor/deny all apps that aren't suitable for a 6 yr old is also really annoying.
It's a real issue. Give it up.
"If you're a developer, then fine, get pissed off. I can see your point. But I don't see why any normal iPhone user would care that Apple is rejecting some app that they'll probably never use anyway."
LOL you have to stop.
Maybe because THEY WOULD USE THEM.
@Paul: " don't know one iPhone user that cares about this story."
I have owned an iPhone for over 2 years, now have a 3gs and this story bothers me as a consumer, and developer.
Now you know at least one.
Don't you all love how Paul likes to take over ANY article about Apple and make it a personal flame war between him and all the other sane people here?
Anyone ever notice he never comments on the 2nd or 3rd page of the comments, he confines his replies to only the first 2 or 3 comments so that all his verbal diarrhea stays on the first page.
Paul, GET A LIFE!!! Nobody cares what you have to say any more. Anything you comment on you instantly spin into an attack aimed at your so called 'Apple haters'. You are a delusional, blind Apple Lover, don't you see that? I guess not, that's the point!
Paul, I used to be on your side... not anymore.
1) I still can't tether my phone w/o Jailbreaking
2) Why can't SlingPlayer work over 3G w/o Jailbreaking
3) WHY CANT I SEND MMS ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I don't care if it's AT&T's fault. Apple, ditch AT&T and go with another carrier, and for the love of god give me multi-tasking. IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK FOR?
eh...
Paul, as i have said before, please die. please. do it for the kids.
Could we all agree that hijacking the first post with repeated diatribes is, if nothing else, bad form from a poster's standpoint?
Paul, if you want to climb on your soapbox, that's fine, you're allowed to do that. For the love of Steve Jobs, please just post a new comment every so often instead of replying to tangentially or unrelated first posts.
Bad Form! Bad Form, I say!!
Actually,
My slavery contract doesn't expire till Feb 2011... So by then... when Apple still hasn't introduced multi-tasking in their iPhone 4GSCT (4G Super Crap Tastic) rev. 5.0, I'll be looking for a cheaper plan with whatever carrier has the best Android phone, or the best WebOS phone... or whatever else is out. The only way I'm staying with iPhone is if I get a brighter, resistive screen, better battery life, and an OS that I don't have to Jailbreak to get basic functionality. Wait... wasn't there an article about RIM patenting that or somethign..... O_o
Paul, you're wrong. Give up.
"How many apps do you need!"
"The apps Apple rejects wouldn't be used by anyone anyway!"
"Kids use iPhones!"
"They have so many apps to look over cut them some slack!"
Fail fail fail fail.
@Andrey
Unfortunately, unless the contract expires, which according to common speculation should be expired next summer-ish, there is not much Apple can do to remedy this situation.
Most certainly Apple can't even talk about it publicly.
I too want multi-tasking but hey, Apple dismissed multi-tasking on a cellphone twice, until the next iteration of iPhone, I think such a drastic change is highly unlikely.
@Jonathan - Thank you. Google Voice is actually my main issue with Apple's process since it's an app I WANT (badly).
@Paul - Please Paul, just give it up. This is not "fake" outrage. This is Apple being ridiculous and stupid. I want Google Voice and now the FCC has to investigate for me to *possibly* get it. All while BlackBerries are happily running it on AT&T's network.
fail.. really Schiller?? Really? thats the best excuse your entire multi-multi-billion dollar corporation could come up with? thats just crappy PR.
@ Andry +1000 for "iPhone 4GSCT (4G Super Crap Tastic) rev. 5.0"
LOL
I happen to be a non-geek that Paul is talking about who is getting rid of the iphone because of this controversy and the flaws of the device. I'm sure I'll miss the lack of multitasking, my 90 pages of fart apps, the most obtrusive notification/"push" system ever, jailbreaking every release for basic features and being under the strict controls of apple who try to tell me what i can and can't do with my phone. Yeah us normal people love devices that need work and time to do what I need.
The iPhone's best feature that made it so great will be it's downfall, a closed & controlled OS. I can't believe Apple gets away with this ish and Microsoft has a raging battle about a built in browser in Europe. Show me Opera Mobile w flash or another program that duplicates iPhone's functionality but does it better and I may go back.
@ Quix,
Just as i expected.
thanks for proving my theory.
"You're new here I take it? See, many Engadget commenters have Windows scripts set up automatically to post anti-Apple diatribes and downrank any positive Apple-related comment whenever an Apple-related story isn't posted."
People who are critical in ANY way of Apple = Apple Haters.
Even the people who like Apple but dont agree with this. Doesnt mater, they betrayed the company are are no better than those bastard Apple hating %$@@! They need to learn to keep their mouths shut.
Hey Paul, stop acting like you're some kind of expert privy to more information than the rest of us (or the Engadget writers, for that matter) just because you talked with an AT&T rep over online support chat. Those people don't know anything, so it really doesn't mean anything if they said something to you (when's the last time you saw LATE BREAKING: ONLINE SUPPORT CHAT AGENT LEAKS AMAZING NEWS? Oh, that's right, never.).
Half the time, I'm never sure what the hell you're even arguing about; I think you must like being downranked for such epic monologues ado about nothing.
Everyone is pissed about them pulling GVmobile. Guess what, stop bitching, jailbreak the damn phone, and install it over Cydia. Was that so hard?
@Quix
Sarcasm... look it up in your recently approved iPhone dictionary. You may not be able to download it since the app is 17+ and you clearly don't meet those requirements. Luckily bookstores don't have an ESRB type of rating on dictionaries so anyone can pick them up. I even bet a dictionary is on your school supply list for this fall, luckily you can pick one up anywhere but on your iPhone.
I do enjoy a few apps like Pixelpipe & Amazon. I think most paid & free apps fall under the cool for 5 minutes but doesn't do much and I just wasted a couple bucks category.
Oh and Paul, if it really was AT&T's fault that GVmobile was pulled (you claim it was SMS and long distance calling that did it) riddle us all how the AT&T blackberries have google voice on them. That, and while you're at it, explain those annoying "FREE SMS" applications I see constantly.
Oh, and if you actually *used* Google Voice (no doubt you haven't actually gotten an invite yet but still consider yourself an expert), you'd realize that AT&T still comes out on top. It isn't VOIP; to make a call you still make a real bona-fide PSTN call, so AT&T does get its call time in.
Me too. I have lot of e-mails...
That warm and fuzzy feeling is me standing outside your house with a huge magnetron, slowly baking your insides.
Soak it all up, bitch.
@Mmm?,
Welcome to Engadget, home of Apple-haters.
Lol Windows scripts Quix? You really don't know jack about computers do you? (typical Mac user)
A windows script is generally a batch file (or vbs) that simply parses commands to the command prompt in order to automate a task in the system. You wouldn't use it to troll Engadget.
***************************this script written for your benefit using autohotkey***************************
Phil Schiller didn't help this situation one bit
@Paul
Did you not watch the Sesame Street episode about making friends when you were a kid? You have issues. I understand how a business works but when you have an open platform and create a new market you need to allow competition. Let me throw out this word for you: Monopoly. Defined as: a monopoly exists when a specific individual or an enterprise has sufficient control over a particular product or service to determine significantly the terms on which other individuals shall have access to it.
See the issue now? You can trust apple with your life but I'll sit on the sidelines and enjoy things not Apple.
You know that's funny paul, because I'm an iPhone user.
@paul
The problem is that when we do use logical arguments, you ignore them or at best pick out one tiny portion of our posts that is an opinion of ours and relentlessly attack us for our opinions.
meanwhile you rarely use facts to back up your arguments and fill your posts with opinions:
"How many apps do you need!"
- perhaps we need more than you, or want more selection.
"The apps Apple rejects wouldn't be used by anyone anyway!"
"Kids use iPhones!"
- While it is a fact that kids use iPhones, thinking that we should protect our kids from what they can see on TV at 4PM is an opinion.
"They have so many apps to look over cut them some slack!"
- Again another fact, and this time it isn't strictly an opinion. However it reveals you as a hypocrite. What if I said that "Windows has so many viruses to keep track of that we should just cut them some slack!" That wouldn't fly, would it Mr. Chapel?
The reason that you are always downranked is because you turn every post into a debate of how awesome Apple is. All I want to do is come here to read some tech news and scroll down to the comments section and read what other people have to think about it, and maybe grab some links from the comments for additional info. I can't do that though because all of the useful information is hidden by the flamewars that you start. For example, you got the first reply to the first two comments, and turned them into flamewars because you simply can't accept that maybe Apple was in the wrong here.
Why don't you just go to TUAW, and stay there? Or is the only reason that you are here is because you like starting flamewars?
@Paul
I'm an iPhone user and I care. In fact, I'm still using my 2G, my contract is up, and I'm not upgrading to the next iPhone. Unless something drastic happens, I'm pretty much done with Apple completely. They're worse than Microsoft ever was. My next computer will most likely dual boot Ubuntu and Win7, and it won't have an apple on it anywhere.
Yeah, *Apple* so mercifully gave us the App Store. Thing is, there were already tons of apps for the iPhone, Apple just wasn't getting a piece of the action because it was all in jailbreakland. So Apple had no choice but to make the app store, because at the rate things were going everyone was just going to jailbreak their phone. Once Apple *graciously* made the app store, it was the *developers* who made it worth something. How does Apple thank the devs, the golden goose that's getting them so much acclaim? With a bullshit approval process that wastes developerss time and money, and generally pisses everyone off. Apple
@paul,I'm steve's butt boy, chapel
i don't even read your comments anymore,i just downrank and then report them.
i suggest everyone else do the same.
@Paul: Yeah, 97% of apps are approved. That number will probably go down now that the banned all the garbage apps from Perfect Acumen, and most of the rest are iFart knockoffs.
The really dumb part is that they're enthusiastically censoring (Oh wait, they don't censor, they just reject the apps for their content. That's not like censoring at all) the store but you can take a fresh iphone out of the box and surf the web for porn on Safari all day long, and that's not a 17+ app. It's the idiotic lack of consistency and reasoning that is killing it for us.
In a nutshell, it's Conway's law in action. You can see how dysfunctional Apple is as a company through the way them make software, and the App Store is a shining example of that dysfunctionality.
@ Paul "You do realize that I didn't actually say any of those things, right?"
Another fail for your list, you said ALL of them. And don't pull "they're taken of context" b/c they're not.
A."How many apps do you need!"
You said: "There are already 70,000 apps. What more could you possibly want?"
B."The apps Apple rejects wouldn't be used by anyone anyway!"
You said: "I don't see why any normal iPhone user would care that Apple is rejecting some app that they'll probably never use anyway."
C."Kids use iPhones!"
You said: "I plan on buying my 10-year old niece an iPod touch in a couple months. I would really appreciate if she can't download an app and find out the meaning of "teabagging" (No, not the Republican version) without there being some kind of parental control in place. Apple did the right thing in this instance."
D."They have so many apps to look over cut them some slack!"
You said: "have any of you given any thought as to how hard it must be to filter through thousands of apps every month? I'm quite sure it's not easy, so there are going to be mistakes and bad decisions, but most of the apps that Apple has rejected in the last few months have been subsequently approved."
I LOVE how you ignore all my replies because you know I shut you down and then just say, "See! No one answers me, they just say fail without giving reasons!" I gave you all the reasons, and you ignore them because you're delusional. Get out of here.
It's a good thing Schillers never shill.
Looks like Paul Chapel failed at life again. Am I surprised? No.
If you want to learn how to argue, Paul, I'm sure your local community college has some debate classes.
2 Things:
1 I feel really bad for iFargle.
2 @Paul Chapel- Why do you keep responding? You are consistently getting low ratings. There is no reason for you to ever touch your keyboard. No one wants to hear you speak.
There is a point in critizining that 96% number. Nowhere it says if for example this dictionary went to the approved 96% figure or the nonapproved 4% figure after the change. As this is a number coming from apple I think they count it towards the 96% figure.
What's more I find it disturbing when dictionaries are censored. There are people that might not know what the swear words mean and need to know it. Not native english speakers but people who have to speak it as a third or fourth language. If they had a prudich teacher they might not know any of the swear words, and there are times when you need to know them. And this figure for ages 17+. Who ever thinks 16 year olds don't know swearwords? And at least they aren't allowed to read them? That's like out of some comedy.
Ps. The approval rate went down by 1.2% just 4 days ago as 900 apps were pulled out of app store, from a single developer, 3hd most profilic in appstore. And that number gives a indication of the quality of the apps in appstore.
I'm an iphone 3G owner and try as I might, I just can't bring myself to give a shit about this situation.
Why not?
Cydia.
that is all
New World Order...
Yeah, it's like something straight out of George Orwell's "1984" with Steve "Big brother" Jobs in the center.
The Cupertino Thoughtpolice are reporting advancements in the Newapp process, doubleplusgood.
Are people who use this store that sensitive that they cant handle some naughty words?
I would assume that 99.9% of the people with this phone are over the age of...12, and can handle words like ****, ****, ********, ***, and ********************'s.
Why don't you let her parents worry about that? Or dont buy a kid a gadget that wasn't meant to be a kids toy.
Paul, better make sure you rip out the wifi so she can't simply google "teabagging"
Why? I learned more from FRIENDS and family members when I was 10 than anything else. Of Course when I was 10 it was 1990 and the technology world was a little different.
People need to stop being so sensitive. Kids will LEARN bad words no matter what you do. Do you think every 10-12 year old is innocent and NEVER learned bad words for the sake of knowing bad words? HA!
@Paul,
Better prevent her to go on the internet then, as she might stumble upon the meaning of teabagging...
Seriously, preventing her to know the meaning of words is not helping her at all and is not a replacement to a good education. As G.I. Joe said : Knowing is half the battle!
Now quit astroturfing.
Paul, you also better disable the browser so she can't look it up on the internet.
You may want to also disable the music functionality so she can't listen to vulgar music.
You might also want to disable the photo viewing function so that...
Give me a break. Raise your own damn kids for once, quit expecting everyone else to do it for you.
@Paul: So Apple should parent her instead of her actual parents?
@Paul Chapel
So your going to buy your niece an ipod touch with wifi capability and im sure she also has access to a computer with internet access and your happy Apple censors a dictionary app? Because im sure she cant see these types of things on TV or anywhere on the internet. i guess with your theory we should destroy all forms of media since bad content might be displayed?
Can Apple do no wrong in your eyes. You seem to blindly agree with EVERYTHING they do. and also carefully pick and choose which articles to show your Apple love on.
And FYI the App approval process is BROKEN and there are far worse apps they allow then a dictionary with bad words in it. my roommate Dled a App that was just different guns that you reload and shoot. Now thats horrible.
dont forget *******
@Paul: You just proved my point actually.
@Paul: You don't have to censor yourself just because Apple does it
"Uh, my niece has a Mac and there are already parental controls on the Mac"
Since when did an article on an iPhone dictionary app turn into an argument on parental controls on a mac?
@ Paul "LOL, you people have no sense of humor."
Um, that's because it wasn't funny. It was lame. For us to not have a sense of humor about something, it would have to actually be funny, not just your lame attempt at a joke.
"A google search for teabagging would return absolutely nothing."
http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=teabagging&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
Really, Paul? 4th picture. Safe search set to moderate.
meh, whatever
You can almost *smell* the ass-covering and damage-limitation PR bullshit being spread about here.
i like smelling ass
Yeah because all of those Apple users that complained, including the developer of the app, just complete sailed by without you noticing, right?
Their all Apple haters. It's almost like blaming everything on the Jews.
Too bad it'll never cover the smell of your bullshit, Paul.
Oh Zak, why waste all of your iRage on me? There are plenty of people that see this for what it is, like Nilay, and even P. Chapel (who totally excuses it).
So go blow up at them.
Uh huh. Like I said go and tell Nilay, the developer, and all of these Apple users that aren't happy with this that THEY have their head up their asses then.
And even Phil Shiller knows this whole process is askew when he said " Apple intends to "learn and quickly improve,".
Learn and improve what? Something that's the developer's fault according to you?
So I guess for your snotty fanboy view to be correct, ALL of these people have to be idiots, liars, and Apple haters, right?
Hey dipshit, I'm talking to YOU, not Nilay or anybody else. I have a very simple challenge for you, because I want to see if you're even vaguely aware of what happened here. Who censored the dictionary app?
All you have to do is name the company that censored it. Once you've done that, assuming you gave the right answer, you will understand why your bitching about Apple is misplaced in this instance.
During the Engadget staff meeting...
Head Writer: Hey guys, our readership is down today, we need to come up with one good story and get a flame war started.
Writer 1: Hey, why don't we reuse the same "Issues with App Approval" story again. The last 3-4 times it brought in a ton of readers.
Writer 2: That's a great idea. We'll totally look like we are not in Apple's pocketbook too!
-----------------------
Us readers here at Engadget get it. We saw the same story yesterday, just so slightly different. Quit trying to start flame wars. You're making the trolls hungry.
The problem here isn't what apple is doing. It's that millions of people still buy apple products despite what apple is doing. Name me ONE person that hinged their decision to not buy an iPhone on Apple's craptastic app review process. Yeah, this is a non issue, and apple knows it so they could give a crap about reforming their review process. It's all about control with Stevo. Apple fans will be apple fans and will continue to buy apple products regardless of how evil they are. Until that changes, nothing at apple will change.
Your typical Apple fan isn't even aware that there's a review process at all for apps. To them, it's all just "magic."
@Mike
Excellent point.
If developers start porting their Apps to Android, WinMobile, and BB, they will start to have this thing called "leverage", where they can get the stick stuck up the (censored by Apple) of these guys when it comes to this App store nonsense.
The amount of people complaining about Apple censoring this and that yet they still go back for more. Use the Pre, Blackberry or Win mobile if you don't like the way Apple does things or shut up.
Paul Chapel...
I totally agree. I want to by my 10 year old nephew hist first porn. I wish there were some out there that totally edited out all the sex.
So they censored a program that gave access to an online dictionary; a dictionary that could just as easily be accessed by the iphone's web browser? that's a really, really weak excuse.
Apple, please stop deciding for me what I want, dont want, what is offensive, or otherwise. I am 30 years old, and if I want to look up naughty words in a dictionary on my phone, I think I am old enough to do that. If parents dont want their kiddies to be able to download these apps, dont get them an iPhone. I shouldnt have to have a censored list of apps I can download because some 13 year old kid might be using an iPhone. As far as I am concerned its not about Apple and this dictionary....its about Apple making decisions for me.
"learn and quickly improve"? Really? It's been over a year of this frustrating BS, so it looks like Learn and Quick have different definitions for Apple than they do for us. See what I did there?
I also wonder what PAUL plans to do about her friends who will NO DOUBT start cussing. Will he ask the parents to home school her so she can get a proper education without the evils of the world teaching her terrible terrible things that no innocent little kid should know. cause we all know kids would never learn things for the sake of learning. I cussed like a sailor at 10 years old btw. No need for internet to show me. Just friends.
@Paul Chapel
I don't read comments very often but you seen to have a bad habit of hijacking threads with replies that have nothing to do with the original message just to get it near the top of the comments. Why don't you start your own thread?
That's all he ever does, hijacks the first few comments and turns every article relating to Apple into a personal flame war.
He must be very lonely, and tries to seek attention in any way possible. He's a very sad case, a lost cause really. We desperately need an ignore button next to users here, it would make the comments so much more enjoyable around here.
Money is evil anyway. I would rather have slightly less money in my wallet than my every move be watched. BUSH wanted big brother. While Obama wants to make sure kids get fed and have health care no matter what. What is wrong with that? Oh right it is an american right to be greedy and selfish. I forgot.
I am. Thanks for asking!
Hey Apple?
I'm an adult. Quit it with thinking I need to be protected by censorship.
Wow...another tool trying to change the subject of a thread again...
@Paul Chapel - I hope your vehemently defending Apple and its every move is either a joke (so that you can get on people's nerves) or you are being paid by Apple to do so. If it is neither and you are showing ultra fanboyism for Apple then I must say you are the biggest loser I've ever come across. I saw your Flickr page, and seriously, it reeks of madness. Displaying pictures and huge paragraphs trying to explain why Apple products are far superior to Microsoft's (or any other company) is total madness on your part. I read a reply from you on some other post that you are busy working. When do you get the time to be so active on Engadget (and Flickr?) when you work. What kind of a person are you? In my opinion (and I am sure in a majority of the Engadget community) you are considered an idiot of the highest caliber.
+ 1
I have a Macbook Pro, a Mac Mini, 2 AppleTV's, countless iPods, and 2 iPhones that have all been purchased in my name and used over the past 2 years.
I call Steve Jobs my personal lord and savior.
I have Apple stickers on my truck and my commuter car.
I am the farthest thing from an "Apple Hater" yet this weekend I am getting an HTC Magic to replace my iPhone.
I will not support a platform that takes away the freedom of choice and forces their opinion of what is acceptable or insults me because I may be confused by the similar functions.
I will keep my other Apple products because I am a happy user of those devices but if Apple's new found control spreads over to Macs then I will go back to PCs.
Good. This is the way people need to be. Companies cannot and should not have this much control over our products. I myself am not sure if I will get another iPhone either. I like my iPod (not crazy about being forced to use iTunes but I understand the syncing thing so I can live with it), though the Zune HD is looking very sexy, and I like my Mac (and Windows on it too), but I'm just not sure about my iPhone.
Shelbz - You are an extremist who doesn't appear to understand why Apple implanted a ratings system. You also don't appear to have read Schiller's letter to Gruber, or Gruber's response. If the developer of that dictionary app had simply waited until the ratings system was in place, they could have submitted their app, all dirty words intact, with a 17+ rating and it would have been fine.
But they didn't wait. They censored THEIR OWN APP. Not Apple. Let's be absolutely crystal clear about that, because people who bitch and whine about Apple removing personal freedoms via the app store are not paying attention. You're probably one of the people who think it was Apple's decision to ban the Google apps too, despite the fact that Phil Schiller personally approved them.
No, that was all AT&T. Feel free to go to another carrier because you don't like AT&T's policies, but don't blame Apple for decisions they're not making. Because frankly that's just ignorant.
@Zak
I did read the letter and I know the developer chose to edit it, however he shouldn't HAVE to.
I also do blame Apple for Sling, Skype, and Google Voice. AT&T has every right to ASK that Apple remove or prevent certain features of apps but that does not mean Apple has to cater to their request.
AT&T, O2, T-Mobile, Rogers, ect need Apple more than Apple needs them. They would stomp their feet and whine but in the end know they can't FORCE Apple to put their own restrictions on the app store that has Apple's name on it.
I like Apple products. 2 Apple laptops, 1 iMac, 3 iPhones, and 1 iPod but Paul is annoying to me all the same. But hey, maybe that's because I'm not a Apple fanboy. I'm typing this on my Windows machine!
I can't believe Apple hasn't figured out the solution to all this bad press yet. Use the App Approval process to weed out illegal and malicious software, and then stop. How hard is that? Just tell your goons to not bother looking for arbitrary morality issues and duplicated functionality, and just approve everything that isn't a virus or a crime.
But then people may use and like non-apple things that serve the same function as the apple version on their apple product. and apple doesn't like that. apple apple apple
This is clearly a promotion for jailbreaking.
Sounds like one day some US car manufacturer will not authorize putting up for sale cars to 17- just because with a car you can go on the boulevard and pick up whores. And, what about schools ? private schools ? do they censure dictionaries because we can find "f*uck" in them ? (ya ya, i know, "comparison is not reason" as we say here)
Stupid americans.
(i'm really found of Apple's designs, really thought there were a different mind in that company, but for the very first time, actually since the AppStore, i'm doubting and considering moving toward another phone-OS… well maybe not… ;) but still.)
I was hoping a urban-dictionary app. I can forget !
What are you speaking about? Apple Hater? Just because PAUL is a apple supporter does not make anyone who opposes his viewpoint automatically the enemy of Apple. Seriously get a clue. Apple lovers unite? No matter what we have to support each others crazy ideas?
Apple is like big brother (and a snobish one at that). Were they throwing that hammer at a mirror 1984?
Safari allows access to wiktionary.org just like any other web site containing vulgarities on the internet. Maybe they should reject Safari until parental controls come out.