Apple Behind Removal of iPorn App

Written by Erin Barker

Friday, June 26. 2009 at 02:30 PM EDT 1 comment

Digg   Del.icio.us   Reddit   Email This

no ratings

• Login to Rate

Creeps in need of mobile porn rejoiced yesterday at the debut of what we thought was the first officially sanctioned iTunes app to contain topless photos. But it turns out Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) is not interested in distributing this kind of app.

The app in question, "Hottest Girls," was removed from iTunes shortly after news of it spread on the Web. At the time, the developer, Allen Leung, claimed that he had removed it temporarily himself, saying via his Website:

The Hottest Girls app is temporarily sold out. The server usage is extremely high because of the popularity of this app. Thus, by not distributing the app, we can prevent our servers from crashing. Those who already have the app will still be able to use our app. To answer the question on everyone’s mind: Yes, the topless images will still be there when it is sold again.

However, Apple issued a statement later yesterday implying that it was involved in the app's removal:

Apple will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography. The developer of this application added inappropriate content directly from their server after the application had been approved and distributed, and after the developer had subsequently been asked to remove some offensive content. This was a direct violation of the terms of the iPhone Developer Program. The application is no longer available on the App Store.

This is all a bit odd, considering the app had been branded with this rating: "Frequent/Intense Sexual Content or Nudity." Why should the App Store carry that rating at all if that kind of material is forbidden?

In any case, this person will be happy. Right?