MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

Sep 04, 08 - 03:37 pm Comment from: Murasaki

Apple should create a special category.

Limited use, but fun. Let the market sort it out and let Apple reap the profits.

First?

That's a shame. That would come in handy when the man or woman in line in front of you bends over to pick something up.

Sep 04, 08 - 03:39 pm Comment from: NCIceman

So on one side, you have market control and censorship, and on the other, you have apps like GetRichQuick. It's time for this concept to leave beta. Post guidelines. Remove the SDK NDA. Let's bring this to a professional level.

"I’ve already heard from a top-tier developer this morning who, in response to this story, is dropping an idea for a very cool iPhone app out of fear that the work to create it would be for naught as Apple might reject it."

Hearsay... FUD?

It seems unlikely to me that a "top-tier" developer would summarily "drop" their "very cool iPhone app", solely as the result of this one joke app being rejected.

Not denying the legitimate concern here - I just don't like this kind of unverifiable, fear-based "reporting".

Sep 04, 08 - 03:46 pm Comment from: HMCIV

Unreported by Daring Fireball, the app the Top Tier developer was working on was a game called "Rover's Red Rocket".

It had a picture/video of a dog, made use of the iPhone's multi touch UI as well as the accelerometer and vibrated to accommodate certain sound effects.


"And now you know... the rest of the story." -Paul Harvey

Apple should not take up the role of censor. Let the market decide. Personally I would pay a buck or two for something like this app, If it makes someone laugh and smile, then I think I got my money's worth.

So, how is myLighter or Moo any different?

I can fart fine with no assistance from my iphone thank you!

MW-past as in you'll past gas!

Get real

this is apple baby not yours deal with it ... hack your ZUNE or your iphone for that matter

a serious problem is world hungar ...... no farts on your iphone????

trying farting for real because you sound like you are full of S**t

Sep 04, 08 - 03:58 pm Comment from: 84 Mac Guy

There goes a few great ideas I had for iPhone apps:

- Mooning

- Middle finger

- Kiss this!

My boys would think this is the funniest app ever created. Assuming the story is true, what could be better than iFarting with your friends? Have some sliders so you can create your own farts, and even record really good farts. Just think of the practical jokes you can pull by having your iPhone throw a fart at your mother-in-law when she bends over . . . .

Come on, Apple – limited utility? Certainly more utility than Moo, Jared, and other novelty apps. Just create a novelty category and let it live or die on its own.

The real truth is that Apple is afraid their servers wouldn't be able to handle the download requests.

alot of this apps on the store right now are BS... this easily would have been one of them

Sep 04, 08 - 04:01 pm Comment from: Mo

Possible headline:

"14 year old commits suicide after being made fun of with farting iPhone at school"

This is extreme but not out of the realm of possibility as a headline. We know how the media spins things.

Apple needs to be very careful with apps that are Apple iPhone branded. Some apps could be used to emotionally hurt or belittle others.

Sep 04, 08 - 04:02 pm Comment from: Mac-nugget

Well, it's kind of like with Widgets, their is some that are of esteem limited use, yet, they are out their.

Even if this application is considered crass and of little use, it could still be funny in certain settings. Apple needs to step down from it's high horse and worry about quality of the coding not the quality of the content, the user needs to worry about the content.

This big brother attitude can be a problem.

And yet on iTunes they sell rap songs with all kinds of offensive (to some) lyrics...

Good for Apple! It is there ball, their field and their game, they can do what they want. I for one am glad they can keep bad taste off the iPhone. I suspect some will argue Farts Jokes aren't bad taste.....yeah right.

Sep 04, 08 - 04:05 pm Comment from: MacBill

Apple,

THIS IS FU**ING RIDICULOUS! STOP CENSORING THE PUBLIC!!!

STEVE JOBS SHOULD STEP DOWN. HE HAS CLEARLY LOST IT. HE CAN NO LONGER SUCCESSFULLY GUIDE APPLE.

Another way to deal with this issue, is to set some minimum number of downloads per month. If nobody wanted this app - it would go away and if it was popular it would stay. Let the market decide. Apple isn't forcing anyone to buy this app.

The problem with the 'bad taste' test is who decides what is bad taste?

"The best way to kill development on the iPhone, to nuke the chance of really out-there, innovative solutions...."

You're talking about Fart Noises, right?

Sep 04, 08 - 04:10 pm Comment from: binarypackrat

YES, TIS TIS APPLE. I must have my fart app. No- Really

Gives new meaning to cloud computing.

Sep 04, 08 - 04:12 pm Comment from: Brau

I agree with bizlaw. Apple should create a "novelty" category for useless stuff like iBeer, etc. Apple has no business disallowing a harmless App like this and it certainly isn't any worse than some others as far as utility goes. The predictions of Apple misusing their power by going too far and playing "big brother" to suit their own ends have been confirmed true today, unfortunately.

Sep 04, 08 - 04:13 pm Comment from: Macintosh Sauce

Give me a can of pork 'n' beans, and I will fart all day long for you. Charge is minimal...

Maybe it was the danger of someone placing the Pull My Finger app next to myLighter.


BOOM!

Sep 04, 08 - 04:14 pm Comment from: Brau

Oh, and I forgot to add ... the devs could add a little more "utility" by using the accelerometer to let the user modulate the sound by shaking it.

@Mo

That is a heck of a slippery slope you are living on!

Sep 04, 08 - 04:21 pm Comment from: ron

Apple shows a bit of class. Our society is sinking lower by the hour.

Sep 04, 08 - 04:24 pm Comment from: ron

"Apple really, REALLY needs to get its act together here," Former Apple employee Chuq Von Rospach writes.

More muq from Chuq. WTFq

I sure hope Apple doesn't get the idea that having complete control over what is and what isn't allowed on a customer's iPhone should spread to a customer's Mac.

If I weren't allowed to install *any* app that I wanted to, on *MY* Mac, it might just drive me over to using Linux or <shudder>, Windows.

For me, it boils down to who owns the equipment. In the case of a Mac or an iPhone, the customer does, not Apple, not AT&T;. As long as an app isn't causing problems for AT&T;'s network, there should be *no* restrictions.

G O A W A Y

Apple should provide some clear advance guidance if Apple has some definite tastes where software on the iPhone is concerned. Otherwise leave the developers alone.

That would come in handy when the man or woman in line in front of you bends over to pick something up.

Or in an elevator.

Or in a carpool.

Or as a setup for someone on a first date.

Or... you get the idea.

@Nick Fury

LOL! Best comment all day!

...really, I would buy this app in a second

Apple is like a crabby old bitch in a bad relationship.

The rules are arbitrary and change without notice. You have no idea what they are until you've violated them, then it's all your fault. You cannot win.

The only way out is to either send the hag packing, or up & leave yourself. Are you listening, Apple?

Until Apple gets their shit together, the iPhone is not worth coding for.

Sep 04, 08 - 04:54 pm Comment from: Thorin

A simple solution IMO would be to add a novelty/enter at your own risk section in the App Store.

Sep 04, 08 - 04:59 pm Comment from: Tommy Boy

What Apple should do is create an "Adult" category for applications of questionable taste (and explicit music).

By default the Adult category should be turned off for all accounts, but anyone who has a master consumer account in a reasonably free country should be able to activate it.

The outrage about the previous bans was all "tempest in a teapot" stuff IMO and there were valid reasons for removing those that have been removed. This one really is seriously worrisome though.

This is a ban based soley on a moral decision, because it's "offensive." In other words, censorship.

Understandably, they need to censor *some* things. An app that tracks children or is heavily pornographic is offensive to more than 90% of most people buying the apps. But this is "fart jokes" More obscene things are readily available at the corner drug store all over the world.

Also, no one seems to be mentioning that this censorship is *USA* censorship. Most other countries are years ahead of the USA in terms of tolerance for "rude" material. What about an app that is deeply deeply offensive to someone from another, let's say Muslim country? They don't count right?

An app that simply showed "sexy" pictures of Muslim women (like you can maybe see their hair and perhaps the outline of their bodies), would be more offensive to a larger part of the world population by far, but there is no way Apple would remove such a tame application. Apple is headed for a fall here.

Possibly the only solution would be to allow a second way to get apps on the iPhone, but it won't happen until the app store has established itself. Maybe a couple of years down the road? And what hypocrisy that would be. To force users to go to the app store, knowing that eventually they will have to open it up, is just self-serving lies no matter how you slice it.

Sep 04, 08 - 05:07 pm Comment from: Dr. Billy

Folks, whatever you personally think is appropriate or not, the point of this article is to suggest that developers will not want to put effort into an app if they don't know it might be acceptable to Apple. It's actually a silly suggestion. The real question being asked here, is developers will not put effort into an app if they think Apple — or their customers — might find it offensive. This is not the gray line many suppose. We all know a lot of folks would have found this one offensive. Oh, we can gripe and moan about it, but the fact remains. As does the solution. Developers should NOT put effort into producing apps that everyone knows will offend [some] people, all in the name of "novelty." Simple. Trying to change the minds of the "conservative" folks out there is another battle for another venue.

"That's a shame. That would come in handy when the man or woman in line in front of you bends over to pick something up."

LOL, you're right! I thought to myself "Who cares?" when I read the headline but now that I've read your use for it I want to download this app at once.

Damn you, Apple.

Yet this one gets thru. Enjoyable game tho.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/RecentlyAddedIphoneApplications-PinchMedia/~3/382923093/viewSoftware

Sep 04, 08 - 05:18 pm Comment from: alansky

Wait a minute... When a new game console comes out, does the maker open up his platform to just any old game that anyone wants to sell? I doubt it! The iPhone is not a generic media player. What right does the market have to demand that it become one? The iPhone is what it is. Anyone who is unhappy with it doesn't have to buy one. Any developer who is unhappy with Apple's guidelines doesn't have to create iPhone apps. Where in the world did this insufferable attitude come from that everybody has the right to do whatever they want, wherever they want, and that anyone who prevents them from doing just that is limiting their freedom? Since when did four-year-olds start using computers and credit cards?

Grow the fuck up for a change and stop sending you stupid fucking apps to Apple, you sniveling little entitlement generation baby

Sep 04, 08 - 05:29 pm Comment from: Brau

The I'm Rich app was a political statement, not an App. It was a clearly a stab at iPhone users and the Apple culture, but I read the description and it clearly stated it contained nothing more than a photo of a glowing ruby and a saying. Those 8 people who paid $999 for it apparently also knew what they were buying but considered it pop culture art and wanted a copy before it disappeared. Despite their claims, Apple pulled it to protect their own image, not consumers.

Pull My Finger has again quite obviously been pulled to protect their own image because Apple doesn't want people saying the iPhone is a joke or a toy because of it.

If I were running RIM or MS advertising, I'd be all over this censorship trend with a parody of Apple's own iPhone ads declaring how the iPhone lets you browse or install "anything Apple sees fit". With the precedent so far they would have the legal right to make such a claim.

That's not the point, alansky. Didn't you read the link?

"I actually don't have a problem with them rejecting this app, but that's somewhat irrelevant to the larger picture. The larger picture is a lack of communication and feedback, and a lack of any published policies and standards on what is and isn't acceptable.

"If only Apple would TELL PEOPLE where the lines are in the sand, 90% of this controversy would go away. And yet they don't.

"My argument, though, is that you have to invest in your partnerships and relationships and goodwill during the good times, or you won't have much to fall back on when a bad thing hits. Evidence for the prosecution: the MobileMe rollout and the lack of any real support, patience or tolerance among the users and pundits.

"The App Store needs a developer evangelist. Someone who interacts with the developers, tells them what to expect, listens to them bitch and moan and carry their arguments back into Apple (hopefully to be dealt with, not blown off), and who can act as a "pre-flight" checker. If this person exists, they're hiding really, really well, and that's bad."

Mobile OS X developers are completely in the dark. They develop apps and submit them blindly with no guidance hoping Apple opens the door. Who would want to work in that environment?

As for the app itself, there's worse things in the App Store (or at least equally bad). So what would make this developer assume that Apple will reject their app?

I'm having a hard enough time as it is trying to get my work pay for my iPhone (instead of a BlackBerry) without having this fart app being touted on the news (or the water cooler) as an example of what the iPhone can do.

On the other hand, I do agree with the article that Apple needs better communication with developers as to what will be approved before a finished product is produced.

On the other-other hand, the anonymous "top-tier developer" quote was a cheep shot.

It was just the wrong form letter. They meant to use the vulgar rejection letter and sent the lack of utility letter instead. That said, I don't really find this app all that offensive. Poor taste maybe, but there's plenty of that to go around. Leave it up to the buyer to decide, in my opinion. And for those that complained why Apple let certain seemingly useless apps into the App Store, you're now reaping what you sowed.

Sep 04, 08 - 05:58 pm Comment from: Mac Daddy

Of limited utility? I'd use that app all the time! But I am just a nerd.

One thing I would like to try is the "alternative" distribution methods.

From the original MacRumors article, the message from Apple continues:

"It may be very appropriate to share with friends and family, and we recommend you review the Ad Hoc method on the Distribution tab of the iPhone Developer Portal for details on distributing this application among a small group of people of your choosing."

So, if he was planning on doing this as a free app, choose the Ad hoc method. If you can get 100 people to download it via Ad hoc, you might be able to come back to Apple and say, "Hey, 100 people wanted this app. Can I now put it on the AppStore?"

Sep 04, 08 - 06:07 pm Comment from: phantasmosxmagnum

Damn! I really wanted one of those especially if instead of a finger how about a pair of cheeks that you use the pinch to control how it sounds & add a timer to catch some victims! LOL :D If it created a smell then I could see a problem. It's probably not in good taste, juvenile, silly etc. but much better than "I Am Rich"!