Rogue Amoeba on code signing, iPhone SDK

P0rn or not.

Do you guys really think Apple is going to allow apps that interfere with their business model?
I think not.
Free your itunes? NO.
Swap files? NO.
Buy content from other outlets? NO.

Microsoft already tried this, they failed. Apple is next to fail with the same model. Limited SDK access to their platform is a joke.

Especially with an open system like android/GOOG hot on their tail.

Sounds pretty similar to the approach Microsoft, VeriSign, Sun, Java, Symbian - perhaps a bit more restrictive.

Lordy lordy, thank goodness Apple is making content decisions for me, I couldn't possibly deal with having to think for myself. How you can see any of these blocks as a good thing is beyond me. Sure Apple is covering their ass, and sure it's their platform. But come on. A list of the kinds of applications you can and can't make? This awesome, mobile OS X based device. Think different indeed.

I see a lot of comments here about porn, that's not the issue really. The issue is that at some level this phone is a personal computer. I don't like a TREND where the computer manufacturer can tell you what you can and can't do with your own property. What I can and can't load on it.

This trend has been long time coming, starting with the ipod which only works with iTunes. We don't complain much because iTunes is a great product and (at the moment) you can load basically any media into it and push it to your iPod. But Apple certainly is moving towards more of a closed system where they control what you do with your computer and what kinds of media it plays. Apple TV is an example. iPhone is another.

It's been said many times before.. but look at Steve Job's beginnings. They practically invented the personal computer (I SAID PRACTICALLY) which was all about freedom. The Crazy Ones! Back then it was about tinkering and seeing what you could do and create. Now it's more like what the license agreement stipulates that you are allowed to do.

I suspect they could put all the naughty amoeba porn they want in their apps, and Apple wouldn't notice. Paramecia, though...

By trying to take full control, Apple is putting themselves in a very difficult position, one which won't be easy for anyone to handle. They are taking responsibility for the content. While this is really dumb, it's nonetheless their position. However, if you really want porn, you have a web browser on the iPhone just as always. What do you want, a dedicated porn app?

The Apps Store is going to be world-wide. Do you have any idea how difficult it would be to meet the legal requirements to distribute porn for pay in every market Apple sells in? Bear in mind, many of the 50 states have unique laws on the issue. You can argue all you want that it's a moral issue, but it's really only one of legal compliance. And I used to run a porn site.

@Caitlin: Ah,we are on a very similar page. Thanks for the reply :-)

Two comments on comments thus far, and one comment on the original issue...

@Caitlin: Why would being female automatically mean you don't care for porn? Admittedly, most porn is demeaning to women as a whole and, I agree, disturbing and problematic. But porn as a concept is meant to appeal to a person's sexuality. It might not work on you personally, but I don't think that we can say no women enjoy porn.

@Jeff: "[obscene material] depicts sexual conduct in a patently offensive way and has no serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value" bothers me because it suggests that sexuality must fit into one of those four categories. That is to say, if we can't utterly sanitize it or, better yet, make it a metaphor for something else, it's obscene.

And the general comment on the original topic: Apple is going to prevent porn from being distributed, but will it make any move at all to prevent simulated violence? I'm pretty sure they just debuted a shoot 'em up as one of the games, and one of the first movies to be easily ported to your iPhone/iPod from the DVD will be the latest Rambo. I have no plans to sit around and enjoy the latest multitouch porn video on my iPhone on the subway, so everybody's behind me. Fine. But do we give the same third-degree treatment to the inevitable ports of Contra or Metal Gear?

Apple is a private business that's decided it doesn't want to sell certain materials in its store. They are certainly within their rights to choose what goes in their store.

Given that the iPhone is connected to the internet, plays videos, and displays photos the whole 'porn' discussion seems academic at best. If you must have porn on your iPhone, it can't be that difficult to achieve that now.