More Development on the Future of Apps

Apple has seemed to go back and forth quite a bit over the past week or so on their stance regarding applications. And as any iPhone or iPod Touch owner can attest, a lot hangs in the balance when Apple makes a decision as to the future of applications. To many Apple owners, applications are one of the primary reasons for which they remain devoted to Apple products. With more than one hundred thousand applications to choose from, and more and more springing up on the Apple store every single day, applications provide consumers with a plethora of options with which they can customize their iPhones and iPod Touches. And with the release of the iPad on the not too distant horizon, applications will soon extend to an even greater range of Apple products.

For those who have not been following the technology news, quite a little controversy has sprung up over applications in recent times. While applications are only available from Apple’s App store, just about anybody can submit them. In fact, Apple welcomes submission and innovation by even going so far as providing tutorials at apple.com on how to develop applications. But while innovation is encouraged, Apple does engage in a review process before offering an application on the App store.

It seems as if a significant number of concerned parents were reporting to Apple that their children were buying applications from the App store that were not age appropriate. In fact, some of the best selling applications contained content that was sexually charged. In response to these complaints, Apple announced that it would no longer sell these products on the App store. While parents and educators received this announcement warmly, there are two sides to every coin.

Many developers were shocked by the news, and immediately began issuing complaints to Apple. As the developers pointed out, the applications were selling quickly, indicating that there was a need – or at least a want – that they were filling. Within a couple of days, Apple then reinstated a handful of the applications that they had removed from the App store only days earlier. However, many of the banned applications remained out of the App store, leaving a handful of developers with a drastic change of professional direction.

Rumors are now beginning to spring up around the Internet about the future – if any – of adult-themed applications on the App store. There are extremists in both camps crying opposing messages. On the one side, protestors are claiming that Apple has not gone far enough, and on the other side they are claiming that Apple is being too restrictive. But what is Apple’s stance on all of this?

There were reports that for a brief period of time last week, an “Explicit” category was added to the App store’s selection window. While no explicit applications were made available under this title box, it appeared as if Apple was perhaps in the development phase of adding a place to the App store where Apps for adults only could be found. This explicit category has since been removed, however, and speculators are now left to wonder what Apple’s next move will be. Time will tell how this controversy will turn out.