The reason for war on porn in the app store may have been to support Apple’s ad network for the app store. Keeping things under tight control makes advertisers happy. For example, much of YouTube and Myspace will never get good CPMs, because advertisers don’t want to be next to sex, drugs or rock n roll.
This may not be a *good* idea, because Apple is losing sales of apps, losing compelling apps (given that iPhone buyers would be motivated by porn on the platform), and reducing in-app commerce in order to up their revenues on in-app advertising. But that’s the tradeoff from Apple’s perspective.
And of course, from the perspective of a free society it’s a rancid idea. Free societies thrive on truth about sexuality and wither from neo-Victorianism. But whatever.
I’m pretty certain that our society is not going to wither from neo-Victorianism no matter what Apple does with their App Store. Last I checked, iPhones and iPads have a fully functioning web browser, and you can still find porn on the web if you look hard enough.
Not sure what your point is, Ryan. That apps are not the whole show in town? That apps are Apple’s own business?
I wonder what happens with non-porn sexual materials along the lines of “Our Bodies Our Selves” and “The Joy of Sex.”
This very prurient story is relevant:
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/27/apple-iphones-porno-apps-stimulating-opposition-parents/?test=latestnews