There’s a contradiction at the heart of Apple’s marketing strategy — a contradiction that has now been exposed in the form of scantily clad German women.
The company touts its iPhone and forthcoming iPad as platforms for vast individual expression, while also exercising the right to exclude some content from its own App Store, the sole source of applications for the devices. But now, German media companies are up in arms over Apple’s recent crackdown on apps that feature nudity. The Association of German Magazine Publishers is drafting a letter of complaint, The New York Times reported last week, after Apple delayed the approval of an app by the newsmagazine Stern because it involved a nude photo. Other would-be app developers have complained of prudish standards barring content that would be unremarkable in Germany, where the newspaper Bild puts photos of naked women on its front page.
The cries of censorship seem overheated. A retailer has to decide what it will and won’t sell. If Al Qaeda supporters wanted to market an iPhone app featuring incitements to violence or footage of beheadings, hardly anyone would quibble if Apple declined to carry it. While Bild-style nudes would offend far fewer sensibilities, it’s still easy to understand why the California company wants to steer far clear of selling pornography.
By keeping control over iPhone apps, though, Apple has taken on an enormous responsibility. By and large, the company discharges it benevolently. Even so, the dustup in Germany is a warning to would-be iPhone and iPad owners: The devices aren’t fully free as long as a single company decides what can go on them.
