Apple says no to farting iPhone on 'utility' grounds

Stephen Withers
Friday, 05 September 2008 04:01

Business IT - Technology

Rubberduck might briefly distract a toddler, Koi Pond might be calming for some people, and others may find Pull My Finger cheering. You or I might not buy the latter, but should the developer be denied a marketplace?

I don't think the issue here is one of censorship, as some have suggested. But as right-of-centre politicians are fond of telling us, businesses hate uncertainty.

The problem seems to be that Apple has failed to publish clear guidelines for developers that want to distribute their products through the App Store.

In the case of Pull My Finger, the developer probably didn't need to put a huge amount of time into creating the application. The graphics aren't outstanding, the sound effects don't seem especially authentic (though you never know), and the complexity of the app is low.

If you've got an idea for an iPhone app, it's possible to do some limited market research to find out if people would be interested in buying it. It's one thing to risk market acceptance, but uncertainty about whether the only retailer in the world will stock your product is quite another.

Apple should perhaps sit back and reassess who its customers are and what made the company great. One the things that helped to propel the company to its present elevated status was its cheeky irreverant sense of humour, as is currently personified in its I'm a Mac ads. If it wants to retain its cool image, perhaps it should remember its roots and stop acting uncool.