CUPERTINO, Calif. — It's only a rumor, but several Apple-centric sites are suggesting the company is considering making more "mature” applications available with its iPhone OS 3.0 release.
This speculation comes with recent news that one developer was told that while their app was rejected due to content considered "offensive," it might be allowed once the OS 3.0 of iPhone was made available to the public.
TheAppleBlog reports that developer was Makayama’s Newspaper(s), an application that consolidates access to many newspapers from around the world, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Guardian in the UK. The app also originally included British tabloid The Sun, and was then rejected because that paper features "Page Two Girls," who appear topless, a definite no-no in the land of Apple. With The Sun removed, the news-gathering app was resubmitted and then accepted.
According to the site iLounge, Apple told Makayama a paper such as The Sun, with its bit of topless content, could be included once iPhone 3.0 goes to consumers, because the new operating system includes a parental control feature.
If that one note to a developer even cracks open the door to more mature content, tech-watchers are wondering if this even could mean truly adult apps in the future, including the implementation of some sort of ratings system, similar to that for video games. Apple was not available for comment.
Apple has already allowed a few "racy" apps for the iPhone to pass through, such as Peekababe, recently reported by AVN.com
In related news, Apple rejected a Tweetie app update and that's ticked off many iPhone users who tweet via Twitter. The reason for rejection: the appearance of the F-word in Twitter's trend search, which is no way controlled at all by Tweetie; the app only links to it.
