CUPERTINO, Calif. - Watch your language or we won't carry you, says the Apple Apps store for its popular iPhones. The land of Mac has rejected the book Knife Music by CNet editor David Carnoy because a teenage girl utters the f-word, as a verb.
Gizmodo.com reports that Carnoy's app developer Alexandru Brie submitted the book, which Carnoy considers a detective thriller, to Apple and received a letter stating "we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it contains objectionable content" ... "Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.)."
Authors like Carnoy, whose book is available on Amazon.com, can get around Apple Apps by offering the novel through other download methods, but the rejection due to a single line is riling up websites and blogs, wondering what Apple may reject or out-and-out ban next as content.
Carnoy's developer Brie suggests to CNet that Apple is checking content by using word-matching software rather than a live human being actually scanning over every word in every book submitted to the App Store. Brie told CNet, "Apple's staff shouldn't be allowed to refuse to publish works of literature based only on word matching."
When Apple opened up its IPhone to third-party applications, CEO Steve Jobs immediately stated that "porn" would be prohibited. The question coming from many now is one of what actually defines "objectionable" when it comes to language? Apple is already rating some applications as "Mature 17+," but does not, however, allow NC-17 movies on its iTunes Store.
