Just days after pulling suggestive iPhone apps from its App Store, Apple may be changing its tune and considering an “Explicit” category for iPhone programs.
Earlier this week, Apple pulled hundreds and hundreds of potentially risqué apps from its online store in an attempt, as one analyst put it, to preserve its “squeaky clean” public image. But higher-ups at Apple may be reconsidering.
Developers uploading new apps to the App Store yesterday noticed a new category called “Explicit,” reports Gizmodo, leading many to assume that the apps that had been pulled would have a place to live that would take advantage of the Parental Controls on the iPhone 3G/3GS. However, the category was removed shortly afterwards.
According to a developer who phoned Apple looking for an explanation, the hardware manufacturer is considering the option, but “it’s not going to happen anytime soon.”
To be honest, while Apple certainly has a brand image to maintain, I can’t see how this would be a bad thing to have. If it were truly walled off from the rest of the App Store to make it more difficult for an unwitting kid to blunder their way in, then what’s wrong with allowing your adult customers some measure of choice?
Besides, porn is hugely profitable. That’s really a no-brainer.
