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Apple Bans Some Apps for Sex-Tinged Content

Published: February 22, 2010

Apple has started banning many applications for its iPhone that feature sexually suggestive material, including photos of women in bikinis and lingerie, a move that came as an abrupt surprise to developers who had been profiting from such programs.

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Though Dirty Fingers was removed from Apple’s App Store, a Sports Illustrated app is still available, leaving app developers to wonder at Apple’s screening process.

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Times Topics: iPhone | Apple Inc.

The app Dirty Fingers, from On the Go Girls, features a woman wiping clean a glass.

The company’s decision to remove the applications from its App Store over the last few days indicates that it is not interested in giving up its tight control over the software available there, even as competitors like Google take a more hands-off approach.

When asked about the change, Apple said it was responding to complaints from App Store users.

Philip W. Schiller, head of worldwide product marketing at Apple, said in an interview that over the last few weeks a small number of developers had been submitting “an increasing number of apps containing very objectionable content.”

“It came to the point where we were getting customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see,” Mr. Schiller said.

Among the victims of the purge was a game called SlideHer, a puzzle that challenged users to reassemble a photograph of a scantily clad actress. Another, Sexy Scratch Off, depicted a woman whose dress could be whisked away at the swipe of a finger, revealing her undergarments. Such programs often appeared on the store’s list of most-downloaded apps.

Analysts said Apple appeared to be trying to ensure that the App Store would not scare off potential customers as its products become more mainstream.

The iPod Touch is popular with children and teenagers. And the company is hoping that the iPad, due out next month, will be a hit with families and as an educational tool in schools. That could be a hard sell if the catalog of programs available for it is cluttered with racy applications.

“At the end of the day, Apple has a brand to maintain,” said Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray who keeps a close eye on the company. “And the bottom line is they want that image to be squeaky clean.”

The iPad will run the same applications that work on the iPhone and iPod Touch, which demonstrated that consumers were willing to pay for software that turned their devices into gaming machines, e-readers and navigation systems.

“The reality is that the iPad is going to be a big platform for apps,” said Mr. Munster. “It raises the bar for Apple in terms of policing what goes into the App Store.”

Last June, Apple introduced parental controls and ratings to help keep sex-themed applications away from children. But Mr. Munster said that the volume of such apps — which he estimated made up as much as 5 percent of the more than 140,000 apps in the App Store — might have surpassed a level Apple was comfortable with.

Many software developers have long complained about Apple’s strict screening process and, at times, seemingly arbitrary decisions about what was acceptable in the App Store. The company’s latest move, which was first reported by TechCrunch, did little to change their minds.

Fred Clarke, co-president of a small software company called On the Go Girls, which made Sexy Scratch Off, said that as of Monday all 50 of his company’s applications were no longer available. They included an application in which a woman wearing a swimsuit appeared to wipe finger marks from the iPhone’s screen with a rag and spray bottle.

“I’m shocked,” said Mr. Clarke, who said the company had not had a problem with its applications since the first one went on sale last June. “We’re showing stuff that’s racier than the Disney Channel, but not by much.”

Mr. Clarke said his company had been earning thousands of dollars a day from the App Store.

“It’s very hard to go from making a good living to zero,” he said. “This goes farther than sexy content. For developers, how do you know you aren’t going to invest thousands into a business only to find out one day you’ve been cut off?”

Mr. Clarke said the company would still continue to develop applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch, but would explore alternative platforms, including Google’s Android.

Mr. Schiller said Apple had to prioritize its customers. “We obviously care about developers, but in the end have to put the needs of the kids and parents first,” he said.

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