Steve Jobs admits Apple tried to buy AdMob, warns of porn on Android - Page 2

No, no, no - that's why Safari on the iPhone doesn't have flash - all the porn sites use flash

Just about as many as are NOT on AI... What's your point?

If you removed all the porn websites from the internet, the only websites left would be ones saying, "bring back the porn"!!!

This argument needs a bit of tuning. By the same way Apple doesn't make money through browsing in Safari, Apple wouldn't make money with unsigned apps, so Apple wouldn't be in the porn business that way. Unsigned apps would mean that it's not part of Apple's business, as it's not going to be in Apple's store.


I guess I would agree that Quattro was a better buy, especially considering the price difference, For some reason, I hadn't heard of them before Apple bought them, and I am still having a hard time finding information about them, I was just going based on what you said. As yet, I can't find any good traffic or revenue information. I did find that AdMob had served 7+ billion ads (http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/11/04/4462302.htm), but I can't find a similar figure for Quattro.

really? i didn't read what he said as a warning. just as a 'we don't want to go there' statement. seems blown a little out of proportion...

Android still doesn't have Flash and Flash on Mac OS X has had years to use native APIs yet somehow it's all Apple's fault dating back to 2007. I wonder how these people function in life.

And why would you waste a Q&A question on asking such an asinine question as that. You're better off asking if Steve Jobs likes turtles.

A browser is a portal into the world wide web, Apple Corp does not attempt to control the web or our access to it. Apple controls its sources of profit and to an extent how its developers can profit from their participation in the Apple ecosystem.

You're right, we can't have the iPhone being like OS X with its abundance of uinfettered,unregulated porn apps and app stores corrupting thousands of innocent minds every day.

Parental Controls - Disable Third Party App Stores - problem solved!

I prefer having it broken down by topic. I don't like it when the stories combined more than one topic because the forum discussion ends up being noisier and more confused, you end up with two major sub threads, if you're lucky. I'd rather hear crickets than have a total thread derailment.

If iPhone app developers switch en masse away from using AdMob to using iAd, Google's acquisition becomes even less economical.

Steve old boy, this is going to backfire. For every person who embraces your no-porn platform, ten will reject it and buy an Android powered phone. Well done on your excellent marksmanship, though were you really aiming for your foot?

A well known truism of the advertising industry is that 'sex sells', just ask the experts you just bought at Quattro.

I have a number of finely crafted hair shirts with Apple logos on them, would anyone here like to buy one? Go on, you know you want one, get a couple for your kids as well to keep their minds off other things. Buy, two, get one free.

Not all the kids. There's a good chance that at least 50% of them will give a rat's patootie. And, last I checked, girls are just as likely to be cellphone users as boys.

Thanks for that post. I am sick of the wink-wink nature of so many posts here, of the "porn is ubiquitous, so just deal with it" variety.

It is great that someone is taking a stand. Whether it is ultimately futile or not, kudos to Jobs and Apple on this front.

What's your point?

Why don't we allow porn on network television?

This is the type of uninformed commentary that makes Forums like these totally the preserve of men, and in an ever-expanding, self-serving, self-reinforcing way.

Way to go, guys!

I was thinking the same thing. I haven't looked at any sites, but I would assume they would use Flash video or maybe WMV. Given that the iPhone/iPad supports only H.264 and MPEG4, people shouldn't be able to use these sites. Even Quicktime .mov videos aren't supported, so any site that uses that would also be worthless.

Honestly, I don't see a point in complaining about porn apps when you can get free porn on any smartphone, iPhone included, from the Internet (yes, I was curious enough to type "iPhone porn" in iPhone Safari's search field).

So basically we have Porndroid vs. the iPorn. Or iPhorne. Big deal.

Is there a way to filter Internet sites in iPhone OS, anyway?

Sorry that you are unable to see something that was obviously intended as a joke. I meant no offense, but I guess I should have remembered that there are always people on forums who take everything far too seriously.

My fault for not seeing the joke. I meant nothing personal.

It seemed like a good 'hook' to hang my hat on, that's all.

I have no quarrel with porn or other sex-oriented sites. Having said this, I consider Apple's "non-porn" policy to be prudent, clever marketing as well as save a lot of headache and may actually save them money.

As to Safari (and other browsers) being a porn gateway -- they solved that in a manner that is used by many more progressive libaries. They included softwares that allow parents or adults to block sites they do not want minors in their care to view. This move counters the propaganda from prudes. We know however that a determined horny kid shall find a way to circumvent this. Apple is protected.

As noted by a number of posters, "... there is a difference between having a unregulated porn STORE and having access to adult content via a web ..." The latter Apple already addressed. More important, by not sanctioning an "... unregulated porn STORE...", the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, will be more acceptable to some target markets -- education and the enterprise.

People are now complaining about how difficult to find good apps. Sex-oriented sites also comprise a great bulk of internet sites. Imagine if Apple allows "unregulated porn STORE...", and the ratio of adult apps to other apps is 1000 to 1 or even as low as 10 to 1.

Also, considering that most porn access now is free .. all the above, if "unregulated porn STORE...", is allowed is likely not to provide much revenue to Apple, and yet would greatly tax its screening process, to the detriment of evaluation of other apps.

Why is it taking so long for my app to be approved? Blogs that will be repeated by Apple detractors.

If Apple would select good PORN from bad PORN, I am sure there will be an outcry about censorship and arbritrary approval process. All complaints given much hype, even by the mainstream media.

Moreover, porn by nature are video sites -- they use a lot of bandwidth. People are already complaining about the capability of AT&T to meet the demands of iPhone users.

PORN sites tend to be a source of malwares and other stuff that could kead to identity theft and other adverse impacts.

Will kids or adults really buy phones because they have unregulated access to porn sites? I doubt, they already have their coimputers to access porn.

Considering all the above Apple made the correct choice regarding its policy to exclude "unregulated porn STORE...". Also, let us not forget that Apple from the very beginning does not intend its product for everyone. And, PORN is one of those that they would rather cede to Andorid, Nokia and other companies.

CGC

Considering that googling for iPhone porn seems to be giving more hits than googling for Android porn, it really doesn't make much sense.

It is like freelance street hooker pointing accusing finger at brothel with sex shop in the basement.

Even if street lady claims her doing is magic, while others are only doing prostitution

A thousand double entendre are going through my head at the moment, but I shall stay silent!

You forgot to mention that every 18+ male will buy it - for the articles!

..

Technically you are right, however, from end-users point of view, outcome is pretty much the same. Only problem here for me is, the way SJ is presenting it, unaware people might believe that iPhone OS platform is clean of porn and as such suitable for kids without any scrutiny, which is sort of another reality distortion scenario.

But why the jab at Android? He could have just stopped at exactly what you said. "The iPhone/iPod/iPad does not allow for unsigned apps at this time". There, answers the question plain and simple.

An unsigned app means an app that does not show up in the App Store or Market, or whatever store. All apps there are signed apps. It's one where the developer creates and puts the actual file itself on a website for you to download and install yourself. So in a way, your argument that the App Store doesn't allow for porn (in the context of the question asked) doesn't make sense.


Good thing that Safari can render good, olde fashion JPEG, GIFs, and any other types of picture files. Porn doesn't have to move to be porn.


You can, and that might have really be what he's getting at. But a simple "no, not at this time" to the question would have sufficed.

What you fail to realize is that the children you speak of already find porn via other means (again, Safari) on Apple products anyway. I'm sure there are plenty of iPhone/iPod optimized porn sites that require no authentication of age.

The "porn" that Steve Jobs mentions is an app for another App Store, MiKandi. This requires you to go through the usual account creation steps (need valid e-mail address, etc). It's not just a ready-to-go porn app that you can accidentally download. Even opening it doesn't show porn right away, as it's an app to its own store.

This means that the really young children using Apple products will not understand how to get to it. And the ones that can create the accounts are probably looking at porn already. It's a moot point he's trying to make and it's pure arrogance.

Apple can only do so much. Apple decided PORN or adult sites, or some other applications could adversely effect their goals, or cause bad publicity. It has nothing to do with hypocrisy or whatever other charges thrown here.

If parents or adults responsible with minors under their supervision abdicate their duty to supervise their charge, no effort by Apple or any other company will solve what you consider a threat.

CGC

SJ is well aware Android is the only platform capable of competing with iPhone in the same market segment ground (high-end consumers, gadget lovers...).

Palm is all but dead, RIM is much more into corporate waters... WP7 is, well, still out of any picture. Nokia is more into lower-end market, unless they change something dramatically... so what remains is Android.

And Android ecosystem is progressing at accelerated pace. I was checking anandtech.com this morning for my morning-tea dose of IT news, and this article got my attention:

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=18080

To resume article (quote): "Apple has long dismissed Android, stating that it simply doesn't have enough apps to compete with the iPhone. That's quickly changing though. In July 2009 Google's Android Market was only adding about 1,500 apps a month. That number has steadily soared upwards and last month, it added 9,330 new apps."

If they continue this growth, apps count will become pointless - even if Apple apps library continue their growth, difference between 200,000 and 100,000 (2:1) is much less pronounced than difference between 100,000 and 10,000 (10:1).

And because of all that simple math, even if he would never admit that, SJ is feeling pressure from Android and is/will be trying to slow them down in every way possible - by suing Android phone manufacturers, accusing them of Porn... anything that might work. I don't think it is much different tactics from how Apple was fighting Windows regarding their personal computers platforms, albeit Apple is entering this new battle in much better position than their PC position was.

I'm wondering how much thought off this little diversion is. While there is a number of kids who might get an iPhone or Android phone from their parents, I don't think number is that high. Majority of kids will get iPod anyway, being cheaper, and Android hasn't got MP3 player-only device out there. On the other hand, number of young people capable of purchasing their own smartphone is much higher, and them actually might be attracted to Android by this "negative advertising" from SJ. I know I would

Or maybe SJ is fearing soon enough some Android phones might be available for the price of iPod Touch and parents might consider them, being able to do mostly everything iPod Touch does, with benefit of being able to call kids (and other way around) if occasion arise? I'm not parent yet, but majority of my colleagues and friends feel better knowing their kids can call in case of any emergency, and they can check on their kids any time of the day.

Well, Apple could build some sort of user-definable content filtering into iPhone's Safari... something parents could set and password protect. It can't be 100% successful, but could minimize the "damage"... now for me, that would be much better (and respect-worthy) effort than just pointing fingers at competition.

I thought Apple did? I remember them talking about parental control. I thought they did this as part of their plan to have various ratings...

Personally though, I am more into exposure to adult content, especially with adult guidance -- not viewing adult sites or videos together, that would be embarassing to the young person. What I am more interested with is the inculcation of basic moral code, the sense of understanding right and wrong and code of ethics.

My parents were not too much into lectures about the above. They led by example. Also, when I was a child, I was punished when I had to be. There was not artificial rewards when youd did good. Neither did they withold their love even when you misbehaved.

It was from such upbringing that made me evolve my own "moral compass" as I matured.

Personally, I consider the family dynamics, more than anything that could make a difference -- not technological fixes.

CGC

Apple already gives parents the power to disable Safari, so no need to be worried about a problem that doesn't exist


Ya know, some people want the ability to control their experience. If your not one of them, go knock yourself out with one of the plethora of other devices where anything goes. Apple has been extremely consistent in their approach and philosophy - there is nothing new here. Why people who are so torqued out about this continually purchase Apple products or hang out in Apple forums is beyond me

+3 At least a few here get that...

Every Android phone has the same requirement for a data plan that costs the same as the iPhone. That's the real barrier to entry, not the cost of the device. Until that changes, I don't see the iPod touch (or now iPad) being threatened for kids vs. a smartphone any time soon.

And people joked about 10,000 fart apps on the iPhone - has anyone pushing app numbers for Android actually taken a moment to browse through the Android app catalog(s)? If you toss out multiple versions of apps caused by the fragmentation of the OS/hardware, many of these other apps are no better than the "fart apps" that were universally derided here for the longest time

To me thats a really stupid comment to make. Who made Apple to government of what you can and can't access on your own phone! Saying it's because they wan't to keep out virus's etc would be a reasonable argument, but taking an opinion that people shouldn't do certain things when there legal then putting restrictions in products for that is a bit wrong.

Try searching for 'Quattro Wireless' and be prepared to dig, 100,000 business/tech blogs announcing the exact same headline and feature for Apple's acquisition, have thrown up a fair amount of search chaff.

Do they work?

This is just off the top of my head as a potential workaround... but couldn't a crafty teen wipe their iPhone on another user account or friends or school lab, go porno crazy, then re-sync with their own iTunes data before Mom & Dad find out?

Does a parental hardened Mac still boot of a portable drive?

You might of confused me with some sort of hippy, I'm not mr. open source with is unfortunate, because I have expensive tastes.

I'll do you one better:

quattro wireless -apple

It takes out any page that mentions Apple. I still haven't found good information yet. They're not much older of a company.

yea Jobs is always so highly accurate and intelligent - never sounding childish and ignorant. I guess he doesn't feel so confident sometimes and needs to take jabs.

Android is what's known as open source... which means you can do a ton more with it than an iPhone... Porn apps included!!! This is nothing new.

As a newer Apple OS X user, I am appalled at Flashes performance on OS X. It was a pain and a hog in the MS world. But when a Flash Game (with no animations) takes up MORE RESOURCES than a fully rendered OpenGL 3-D MMO (World of Warcraft) - something is VERY, VERY wrong with Flash.

Not completely true, as the early adopters get screwed again -- no OS 4.0 for you original 2007 iPhone owners... It SHOULD be supported, even if it is with less feature support!