Steve Jobs is clear on where Apple stands when it comes to porn. Apple will not sell porn. Apple will not be responsible for the distribution of porn to kids.
On one Friday night in May, a tech blogger decided to comment on one of Apples newest commercials used to describe the iPad - thin, beautiful packing, 200,000 aps and already a "revolution". The revolution also includes saying no to porn apps. This has of course upset a lot of free speech / adult industry / liberal advocates who, not to mention, are also customers of Apple products.
In April at a question-and-answer session at Apple’s iPhone OS 4 event, a journalist asked the CEO whether Apple would consider allowing customers to load apps through means other than the App Store, and Steve noted Android as an option for porn fans.
"You know, there's a porn store for Android." ... "You can download nothing but porn. You can download porn, your kids can download porn. That's a place we don't want to go, so we're not going to go there."
But Apple's crackdown on other sex-tinged apps can be described as a "semi-ban" at best. The Playboy app remains in the App Store, as does the Sports Illustrated app, because they come from "more reputable companies", according to Apple's vice president of marketing, Phil Schiller.
Email Log:
Blogger: If Dylan was 20 today, how would he feel about your company? Would he think the iPad had the faintest thing to do with "revolution"? Revolutions are about freedom.
Blogger: If Dylan was 20 today, how would he feel about your company? Would he think the iPad had the faintest thing to do with "revolution"? Revolutions are about freedom.
Steve Jobs: Yep, freedom from programs that steal private data. Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom. The world is changin', and some traditional PC folks feel like their world is slipping away. It is.
Blogger: ... And you know what? I don't want "Freedom from Porn". Porn is just fine! And I think my wife would agree.
Steve Jobs: ... And you might care a little more about porn when you have kids...
Steve goes on to answer the blogger's criticism with tact, ending the conversation with questions of his own which the blogger chose not to answer. To read the entire email log, click here.
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