Apple may have let Opera Mini into the App store, but it is hardly allowing it to flourish. Apple has marked Opera Mini as containing “age-restricted materials,” forcing users to confirm to be at least 17 years old.
Why the demarcation as an application that may titillate? Apple is in effect saying that you can find porn using Opera Mini, and therefore it needs to be restricted. This continues a trend between Apple and porn, with Apple fending off pornography wherever it can. Steve Jobs recently said that his products offer “Freedom from porn.”
Adding to the mix, Apple has a history of blocking applications that either replicate, or replace functionality that the iPhone offers out of the box. Getting Opera Mini (Opera’s mobile browser) into the App store was a challenge in its own right. Labeling it 17+ is just ridiculous.
How so? Here is a little secret, every iPhone has porn built right in, it’s called Safari. Sure, Apple killed the devices access to most pornography by eliminating Flash, but not all. You can view porn in Safari; ask any 14 year old male with an iPhone, he’ll even show you how.
This makes the labeling of Opera as dangerous rather unfair. Not only does Opera have to compete against a browser that is already built into the phone, but also has to fend off scary-looking labels. Whatever porn problem Opera Mini may have (also known as the ability to browse), Safari has as well. Best to drop the warning from Opera, or add it to Safari’s first run on the iPhone.
Alert! Pornography may be viewed using this application!
Steve Jobs may be the Valley’s hero this decade, but he is also our biggest prude. The irony of the situation is that by moving tens of millions of people to smart phones and mobile browsing, he single-handedly kick-started the mobile porn business. Well done, Steve.
I agree that making opera mini 17+ is dumb especially if its because of the porn thing but opera shouldn’t have to compete with safari because even though its faster than safari is and i mean really fast.it messes when zooming in on the web pages. i don’t know if its because apple made it that way but that flaw really discourages me from using opera on my iphone.
Then maybe they should put warnings out for sexting via MMS and SMS, as well.
I’m sorry, but this is a bit too messianic, even from SJ.
This is getting ridiculous. Is this going to be like the religious right, homophobic politicians? All of a sudden we’ll see some upper management at Apple get busted operating a porn ring?
insane.
Apple has been playing this game for a long time: First it used the outsider and underdog image to win market share and as soon as it got it it has been downhill ever since. It first started with companies that wanted to make Macintosh compatible hardware: they managed to cannibalize every single company that was making a profit, and providing added value to Apple’s customers. And they didn’t stop: DRM, HDCP (See OdioWorks LLC vs Apple Inc) were the clear signs that Apple was and is control hungry. To many this served as a clear warning. *insert siren sounds and flashing red lights here*
But let’s just focus on the porn, shall we? (Never thought I would use this line on a comment at TNW)
Apple wants us to believe that they are now the only company in the world that wants to protect teenagers, all over the globe, from accessing porn. Great! *let me laugh a bit here*
By doing it they are loosing the cool image and becoming the Big Brother themselves (all kids want porn, porn is cool) while, and this is really where it gets interesting, shooting themselves so many times on their apple-shaped-foot, that is becoming pretty interesting to follow.
Remember Quip? An application that was so flawed that thousands of users had their private photos shared all over the internet? That was an exclusive Apple App Store application that got approved, and sold to thousand of users. For this to happen it had to pass that mythical and “thorough” control that Apple has us used to and that it’s so hard to explain that no one at Apple really even tries to describe how it works any longer.
Quip is just one, and probably the most rampant, example of many that show that Apple is interested in one thing and one thing only: profit.
And there is nothing wrong in wanting your company to profit and to have as much control, market share and user data as they can (before anyone comes and calls me a communist). What is wrong is to try and cover its real objectives with this moral stance that can only fool those who aren’t really looking.
Those and Apple’s fanatics of course.
Every app with unfettered Internet access is marked 17+. It’s a big sticking point among developers but not something unique to Opera.
I think it’s something that’s a good thing. There’s every chance that parents of iPhone users monitor their application usage and therefore assist in downloading applications and could even say “no” to browser use on there because of access to pornography. Anything that has access to the internet means that there is the likelihood of pornography being displayed, so always displays the warning.
Maybe Apple should have a warning screen when the iPhone powers on saying “Warning: This iPhone may cause you cancer from radiation. Also, you can easily view porn out of the box using Safari and MMS. iPhone is rated 17+”
That sounds about right to me, It even follows in Nintendo Wii’s Footsteps via their Warning Startup Screen.
Furthermore, this move by apple doesn’t really surprise me. Because of Apples new Lawsuit against HTC + Google.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/190590/apple_sues_htc.html
I think I might just go out of my way and buy a DROID or HTC Incredible. Way to show your true colors Apple, Hats Off.
heheh that’s hilarios..