Aren't you tired of smut cluttering the App Store?
Over the last few months, racy apps had taken over the lifestyle category's top selling list. Wobbly boobs? Come on. Something had to be done, which is why Apple banned sexually explicit apps last week.
Now Martha Stewart tops the lifestyle list—and we're all better off for it.
(Call me prude if you like, although you'd be the first. If you're inclined to wander into the red light, I say don't stop at porno-lite.)
Apple's ban makes sense from both an image and business perspective. Not to mention Apple has a right to sell whatever it wants in its own store. "Private merchants in a free economy can sell, or refuse to sell, whatever they want," Kara Swisher of AllThingsD reminds us.
To recap: Apple banned "sexy" apps from its App Store due to complaints from target customers like families and women. The Apple ban covers apps containing everything from sexually suggestive content to women clad in skimpy bikinis.
Developers of these previously approved apps got the shaft. Suddenly, no one could download their apps. Revenue streams dried up, and businesses collapsed overnight.
Some companies, like an online retailer of women's swimwear, got unfairly swept up in Apple's ban and became collateral damage. As for borderline-porn developers crying foul, what did they expect? Making a fast buck and moving on is the nature of their business.
But the ban isn't equally applied, and that has some critics of the measure crying hypocrisy. Apple reserves the right to make exceptions, especially for well-known brands. For instance, the Sports Illustrated swimsuit calendar app is still available. I downloaded it yesterday just to make sure. Bikinis don't get much skimpier than that.
On the image front, it's about time Apple cleaned up the App Store. The early days were all about gaining a critical mass of apps, which Apple has done. More than 150,000 apps line the App Store's virtual shelves.
Today, though, it's about quality. This second wave of iPhone apps will be super-smart ones replacing silly iFart-like apps. "If you want your app to kick ass today, it must be more sophisticated," says Mike Goos, director of product management at Frog Design, a 40-year-old design firm that launched a division for mobile app development last year.
One popular app even provides food recipes, shows pictures and lets you create and email a shopping list. It's called Martha's Everyday Food: Fresh and Easy Recipes. There's a featured recipe for chicken and pineapple salad. It's good for you.
And as Martha would undoubtedly say, "That's a good thing."
Tom Kaneshige is a senior writer for CIO.com in Silicon Valley. Send him an email at tkaneshige@cio.com. Or follow him on Twitter @kaneshige. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline.
