Apple bans porn, Playboy app still in roleplay

In late February, Apple banned applications that contained sexual content from their iTunes store, while other apps with sexual contents such as Playboy and Sports Illustrated were still downloadable on the iTunes store.

According to Apple's App store policy, sexual content of any kind are not allowed, and often third party app developers find loopholes around it, but now most of these sexual apps have been removed from the iTunes store.

In an article with the New York Times, Philip W. Schiller, head of worldwide product marketing at Apple, explains why Apple decided to take off apps that contained sexual content.

"It came to the point where we were getting customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see," Schiller said.

Why is it that only some third party apps containing sexual content are taken off iTunes, yet apps such as Playboy or Sports Illustrated, who both have just as much -- if not more -- sexual content still downloadable on the iTunes store?

Schiller said Apple took the source and the intent of the application into consideration before deciding which apps to keep and which ones to cut.

"The difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format," Schiller tells New York Times.

A few Cosumnes River College students seemed indifferent when asked about their reaction to Apple taking off apps with sexual contents.

"If it offends parents or other people, they could just go into their iTunes and restrict explicit content on that account," said Tony Pham, 21, a business major, who has the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit app on his iPhone.

However, another student was glad that Apple has finally done something to limit the sexual content that was so easily accessible to anyone with an iTunes account.

"I'm glad Apple is taking the steps to limit all the explicit content because there are a lot of underage people using their products," said 45-year-old nursing major Jennie Baker, adding that she shares an ipod touch with her two teenagers, which still shows "naughty apps" with parental control.