One would expect Steve Jobs to have more important matters to attend to, like locking up the employee who lost the next gen iPhone in a dark dungeon somewhere, but instead, the big Apple boss has recently been finding a lot of spare time to respond to emails sent to him by the unwashed masses.
Never one to keep his thoughts to himself, the notoriously outspoken Jobs recently replied to an email from Matthew Browing, an Apple customer, who had written questioning the firm’s seeming desire to play God with which apps are and are not worthy of finding their way into the app store.
The most recent example of Jobs’ bizarre selectivity when it comes to Apple worthy apps was when award winning political cartoonist Mark Fiore had his app denied.
Browing, puzzled by this, decided to write to Jobs and ask for an explanation as a concerned customer. His letter read:
“Steve,
I was converted to Apple products with the announcement of the iPhone 3G. (My friends have been trying to convince me for years.) Since then I’ve purchased four iPhones, two computers, several routers, and miscellaneous other items. Unfortunately, I’m really starting to have a philosophical issue with your company. It appears that more and more Apple is determining for its consumers what content they should be able to receive. For instance, the blocking of Mark Fiore’s comic app (due to being political satire) or blocking of what Apple considers to be porn.
“I’m all for keeping porn out of kids’ hands. Heck – I’m all for ensuring that I don’t have to see it unless I want to. But… that’s what parental controls are for. Put these types of apps into categories and allow them to be blocked by their parents, should they want to.
“Apple’s role isn’t moral police – Apple’s role is to design and produce really cool gadgets that do what the consumer wants them to do.
Thanks for listening
-Matthew”
El Jobs replied:
“Fiore’s app will be in the store shortly. That was a mistake. However, we do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone. Folks who want porn can buy and(sic) Android phone.”
Er, come again?
Far be it for us to point out that the iPhone revolutionized mobile porn, and remains the top ranking device in terms of mobile porn consumption through its browser, with numerous adult websites catering to Apple devices, offering iPod/iPhone compatible video downloads.
Obviously, Saint Steve of Cupertino chooses to keep his head in the sand about the facts, believing that if he can’t see a problem, it obviously doesn’t exist.
Perhaps he just needs a nice new pair of Google goggles. The chicks dig ’em.
