It seems that Apple has rejected a newspaper reading app, Newspaper(s) [iTunes Link], for containing objectionable content. This app contains newspapers from around the world and one of them has a picture of a topless woman. Apple, however, let the developer know in it’s rejection email that Parental Controls have been announced for iPhone OS 3.0 and that it “would be appropriate to resubmit your application for review once this feature is available.”
So there you have it folks. Will these new parental control features (see them in our iPhone 3.0 Walkthrough) help cut down on rejected apps or will we still see these types of rejections take place? Sound off in the comments!
Well I’m sure you’ve heard about the ruckus Apple has created by rejecting the latest update to the official Nine Inch Nails application. As it turns out, there was no new content added in the update, all that was included were simple bug fixes yet Apple still rejected it. Well now some of Reznor’s fans have spoke out against Apple on his forums and he has replied with the following (emphasis ours):
Everyone – let me be clear. I love Apple products and as goofy and out-of-touch as their app approval process / policy is, I will still use them because they work 1000X better than the competition. This is not a debate, it’s a fact. The iPhone is THE most elegant, modern smartphone at this point in time and it’s perfect for what we want to do with the NIN app – except for the ludicrous approval process, and that’s what I want to draw attention to.
Android is cool, but nobody has an Android phone. Blackberry is OK but the hardware is inconsistent and WinMo straight-up sucks balls. If Apple doesn’t get it together, we will most certainly make it available to the jailbreak community. I didn’t invest in this app to see it languish on the sidelines from an idiotic policy while this tour is in full swing.
Ouch, some pretty harsh words for Windows Mobile right there. Dieter is slowly deleting each and every NIN MP3 on his computer at the moment and it’s a safe bet you will not see the above quote on WMExperts anytime soon.
It will be interesting to see exactly how this unfolds the next week or so.
According to one of Trent Reznor’s latest tweets, an update to the very popular and crafty Nine Inch Nails application has been rejected by Apple.
Apple rejects the NIN iPhone update because it contains objectionable content. The objectionable content referenced is “The Downward Spiral”
For any of you not familar, The Downward Spiral was Reznor’s 1994 hit album that featured the popular song “Closer“. It’s a pretty good guess that is the song that put a halt to this update hitting the App Store. But wait one second… you can purchase this complete album including that particular song right one iTunes?!
Not much to say about this one but wow… just wow.
Update: Our good friend from WMExperts, @PhilNickinson, just sent over a link from the NIN forums where Trent Reznor has posted a bit more information on the rejection. Turns out The Downward Spiral is not even available to listen to in the updated app yet the objectionable content is The Downward Spiral… We are scratching our heads as well.
With the release of Terminator Salvation only a few short weeks away — May 21st to be exact — Gameloft has gone and sent TiPb the very visually-pleasing trailer for their new iPhone game tie-in.
This game looks to be the most impressive iPhone game to date, we can only hope that the controls will be half as good.
There is no word on pricing (We’d expect it to be in the $9.99 price range.) or a release date but you can only assume it should be hitting the App Store on or around the movie’s theatrical release.
As for the movie, it is looking pretty decent, if you can get past the PG-13 rating…
It was only a matter of time before some developer, in this case IntuApps, created an application revolving around the Swine Flu and why not, it’s actually pretty informative and it will be free. According to Techcrunch you can expect the following features:
“you can see the current Threat Level for the disease, a map showing confirmed and suspected cases, a symptoms area to inform people, and an alert page for breaking news on Swine Flu.”
This one can be very useful for a lot of people but now the big question is when will this application be approved?
Welcome to From the Forums, a regular post here at TiPb that gives you, our readers, the chance to get involved in our ever growing community. To get yourself started please register, it will only take a moment of your time, we promise. Now that’s out of the way, lets dive right into some of the better threads for today.
Our first thread today comes to us from iLoveiPhones and she brought up a good topic regarding data prices for our iPhones. Will the data prices rise, stay the same, or can we possibly see different pricing tiers? Personally we feel we may just start to see different pricing tiers. Granted high data prices don’t seem to be slowing people from buying the iPhone but lower data prices could open the flood gates.
Next thread was started a while back by ExBBUser and he wanted to know, what are you top 5 App Store apps? This one has been highlighted here before but with the App Store hitting the one billion mark, why not toss this thread back into the mix?
Sticking with the theme of iPhone apps, cjvitek started a nice little thread titled iPhone CrApp List. It’s simply a thread that you can go to and relieve your frustration on a app you may have purchased just to find out it is pretty pathetic… we have all had this happen at some point or another so share your experience.
Our last thread today is one that I started a while back but with the rumors of AT&T beefing up their 3G network in preparation for the next iPhone, how fast or slow is your 3G data speed? Test your speed out and feel free to post a screen shot in your reply. (Just make sure you have 10 posts to be sure you can post any images.)
We mentioned the new Store Setting tab just a short time ago. daveizzle on Twitter made the observation that this functionality makes it seem like you could theoretically sign into one account, download apps, sign out, sign into another account, and download apps from that account as well, all onto the same iPhone or iPod touch. Boom. Support for multiple iTunes accounts right on the device.
Why would that be interesting? Say your spouse had already bought a $9.99 app. App Store lets the same account re-download that app to the iPhone without a second charge, so it becomes a way to “share” applications (as long as you trust the person enough to put your iTunes password into their device). Another scenario would be a UK users wanting to download a US-only app. They could log into a US account, download the region-restricted app, then log out and log back into their own, local account.
Note: This has been possible all along via syncing from iTunes. Any apps downloaded from any account would transfer over to the iPhone. This merely extends the purchase and/or download process to the iPhone, further releasing iTunes tethered hold.
(Of course, since you can’t re-download music for free, and you can’t download movie or TV show videos directly to the iPhone, this pertains only to App Store content — likely to prevent Big Media heads from ’sploding).
No, SlingPlayer Mobile is still not available in the App Store. Are any of our readers getting sick of hearing about SlingPlayer for iPhone and the numerous reasons/rumors on the applications delays in making it’s debut in the App Store?
Well maybe, just maybe we have a bit of good news for you today. Sling has recently updated their web page to give the iPhone world a little more insight on the status of their SlingPlayer Mobile.
“The team has been working hard to bring the SlingPlayer Mobile experience to the iPhone and iPod Touch. We’ve submitted the first release of our application to the iPhone App Store. We are in close contact with our partners at Apple and are optimistic that it will be approved soon. We hope the wait won’t be much longer.”
They “hope” [emphasis ours]? That’s not a very confident word. We don’t know about you, but TiPb will believe it when we see it.
For those of you who are not familiar with our Apps for Less posts, they are simply a way for us to point out a few good applications in the App Store on sale or at a price that we feel is worth mentioning to our valued readers.
First up we have an Apps for Less favorite, BeejiveIM [iTunes Link]. This application has been spotlighted in Apps for Less 3 times with the price dropping as low as $9.99. We have some good news for you, BeejiveIM is once again on sale for the low price of $9.99. You may be thinking that the price is still too high but honestly, you will not find a better IM client on the App Store, plain and simple. So if you are looking for the best out there, this is the one for you.
Next up we have a good one for all of you Kung Fu + word game fans. WordFu [iTunes Link] is a dice-based word game that combines a Kung Fu theme with many elements of other popular word games. Your task is to assemble as many words from the given letters as possible. All in all it’s a fun game that is pretty simple to play and for the low price of $.99 can you really go wrong? Just keep in mind it is a limited time sale. The price will be increasing so grab it as soon as possible!
The last app we have for you today is a little game called Enigmo [iTunes Link]. Enigmo has been one of the most successful games within the App Store.
“Enigmo is the most unique game that you’ll find for the iPhone or iPod Touch. It is a 3D puzzle game where you manipulate slides, bumpers, and other pieces to control streams of flowing liquid. Liquids (water, oil, and lava) fall from “droppers” and will bounce around the walls of a puzzle. You move and rotate the various puzzle pieces in order to divert the flow of the falling droplets so that they can reach their target. The faster you complete each level, the more bonus you will receive.”
This is one great game with an even greater price. For a limited time you can now purchase this app for the cheap price of $.99! That’s $3.00 off the regular price so don’t delay!
Hopefully some of you can take advantage and get in on these deals before it is too late! Enjoy!
Read Write Web has posted the findings of mobile analytics firm Flurry. They break it down as follows:
Apps (see charts above) put the iPhone staggeringly ahead in terms of active developers, applications developed, and consumer usage. (note: lack of analytics use by BlackBerry devs likely skews those numbers).
Smartphones are being used more than ever
iPhone apps, if they’re marketed effectively, are making strong development houses millions of dollars.
iPhone apps are becoming “hit-driven” like the music industry.
Free versions help sell paid apps
Only 10% of users update their apps (we’re not sure if that’s skewed by other platforms, Apple makes it simple to update).
It’s important to remember that with this type of analytics, results are hyper-dependent on what’s included (and what’s missing) from the data set. If nothing else, however, iPhone developers are getting more attention from, and making greater use of, market analytics at the moment.
