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'South Park' Application Rejected From App Store

Grumps87 said:
That's stupid because iTunes store do actually sell South Park episodes.
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admanimal said:
Forget about explicit music, the South Park TV show itself is available in the iTunes Store, so it is pretty ironic that the South Park app would somehow be too offensive for Apple to sell.
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Not to mention that Apple has featured South Park on their Pro - Profiles page.

http://www.apple.com/pro/profiles/southpark/

There's got to be more of a reason behind the objection other than being potentially offensive. Maybe some of the features were somehow too obtrusive to the OS.
 
Rojo said:
Actually, do we know if this app would have cost anything?
Most apps of these kind (tie-ins to movies, TV, bands, etc.) are free, and more of a promotional thing.
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Even if it was to be free, Apple still makes money indirectly by giving some people another reason to get or keep an iPhone. By that I mean, it is also a potential promotional tool for the platform as well.

I really can't see what Apple gets out of this other than some bad publicity. It is very unlikely that anyone would complain at all. After all, you are not required to download the app and it wouldn't come pre-installed on the phone. Whoever said that Apple wants you to buy a TV episode of South Park for $.99 may have hit the nail on the head. The South Park guys already stream every single episode for free on their own website. They are probably afraid of them doing that on the phone and under cutting sales of what I imagine is one of their most popular shows.

I just don't get it.
 
I'm looking forward to the South Park episode that relates to this app rejection! :-D


PoitNarf said:
I'm guessing you really haven't watched South Park in the past couple of years. In the very beginning yes, it was much more juvenile. To this day there are still several gags per episode that many would label as juvenile. But mindless? Hardly. The most recent seasons of the show have contained episodes that poke fun at all sorts of social issues, religion, politics, terrorism... and all of which were done in a very creative and clever manner.
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QFT
 
I'm 29 and not even a fan of South Park and I'm riled up. This makes zero sense at all. Forget the fact that Apple is perhaps the biggest hypocrite of all time if you consider some of the material they're willing to sell - but this kind of censorship from Apple sets a bad example. What it does well though is provide a competitor the opportunity to say 'WE won't censor you like Apple does' and then 2 years from now Steve Jobs will announce that Apple will no longer censor material, and drones like you will wildly applaud the notion as if it's new.

BRussell said:
Ha, if you want to get the teen boys all riled up, deny them their South Park app!
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ninethirty said:
I'm 29 and not even a fan of South Park and I'm riled up. This makes zero sense at all. Forget the fact that Apple is perhaps the biggest hypocrite of all time if you consider some of the material they're willing to sell - but this kind of censorship from Apple sets a bad example. What it does well though is provide a competitor the opportunity to say 'WE won't censor you like Apple does' and then 2 years from now Steve Jobs will announce that Apple will no longer censor material, and drones like you will wildly applaud the notion as if it's new.
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The rude remarks from people here is a testament to how much they FAIL at understanding even simple economics. The fact that this is "South Park" and not "American Idol" is irrelevant. All this does is stifle future development by scaring off developers.

Who the hell wants to spend time, money and resources developing an app that Apple will just reject for absolutely no reason at all; and don't give me that ******** about it being "offensive." If that's the case, pull the TV show, pull the movie, pull everything with explicit language. Pull iBeer (and the other 21 > over apps) from the App Store.

Thank god for jailbreaking; I hope the developers release this on Cydia/Installer.
 
This is absolutely ridiculous. If the iPhone starts to slide backwards, it will be because the insistence of Apple's leadership to push their personal preferences upon the user, not anything the competition is doing.
 
Apple's censorship of the iPhone platform has always been an ugly thing.

Hopefully circumstances or lawsuits will force them to change.

Phazer
 
I'm not sure why this is so hard to understand for some people. There is currently no rating system as of yet for Apps. Apple is, in all likilhood, developing one that is certified by a larger organization. Since Apps don't fall into any specific category of media, there must be some issues to work out. Apple cannot simply police themselves and decide what is PG-13, PG, etc. All of that has to be determined by some kind of organization.

Ratings for movies, television, music, games are already in existence, so there is no due diligence necessary on Apple's part. However, the App store is new territory. I'm sure a South Park app will be available once a rating system is in place, and inappropriate content can be blocked with correct parental restrictions (so add in administration and implementation time).

The last thing Apple needs is some angry parents filing a class action suit because they didn't do their homework on dealing with inappropriate content.
 
ninethirty said:
I'm 29 and not even a fan of South Park and I'm riled up. This makes zero sense at all. Forget the fact that Apple is perhaps the biggest hypocrite of all time if you consider some of the material they're willing to sell - but this kind of censorship from Apple sets a bad example. What it does well though is provide a competitor the opportunity to say 'WE won't censor you like Apple does' and then 2 years from now Steve Jobs will announce that Apple will no longer censor material, and drones like you will wildly applaud the notion as if it's new.
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How do you know it makes zero sense? We don't know why the app was rejected. We haven't even seen the app. We know that apps that were rejected in the past have now been accepted (e.g., fart apps). We know that Apple sells South Park episodes via iTunes. So there must be something that goes even further in this app - and anyone who knows South Park can imagine the possibilities very easily.

Censorship from a private company doesn't set a bad example, it sets a good example. It's called responsibility. No censorship at all would quickly result in the iPhone becoming associated with porn. You can imagine the stories on the news about kids using the iPhone at school to watch porn, and watch it via apps that Apple sells on its app store. It would be terrible for Apple's reputation.

Maybe this South Park app isn't that bad, and I'd disagree with Apple's decision. But to just make a blanket statement that Apple shouldn't ever censor anything is not very responsible, nor is it very smart from a business perspective.
 
Sorry Kidz, but that's life. When you own the store, you get to decide what goes in it.
 
iLunar said:
I'm not sure why this is so hard to understand for some people. There is currently no rating system as of yet for Apps. Apple is, in all likilhood, developing one that is certified by a larger organization. Since Apps don't fall into any specific category of media, there must be some issues to work out. Apple cannot simply police themselves and decide what is PG-13, PG, etc. All of that has to be determined by some kind of organization.

Ratings for movies, television, music, games are already in existence, so there is no due diligence necessary on Apple's part. However, the App store is new territory. I'm sure a South Park app will be available once a rating system is in place, and inappropriate content can be blocked with correct parental restrictions (so add in administration and implementation time).

The last thing Apple needs is some angry parents filing a class action suit because they didn't do their homework on dealing with inappropriate content.
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Its not that hard to slap an explicit tag on it like they do with music.

BRussell said:
How do you know it makes zero sense? We don't know why the app was rejected. We haven't even seen the app. We know that apps that were rejected in the past have now been accepted (e.g., fart apps). We know that Apple sells South Park episodes via iTunes. So there must be something that goes even further in this app - and anyone who knows South Park can imagine the possibilities very easily.

Censorship from a private company doesn't set a bad example, it sets a good example. It's called responsibility. No censorship at all would quickly result in the iPhone becoming associated with porn. You can imagine the stories on the news about kids using the iPhone at school to watch porn, and watch it via apps that Apple sells on its app store. It would be terrible for Apple's reputation.

Maybe this South Park app isn't that bad, and I'd disagree with Apple's decision. But to just make a blanket statement that Apple shouldn't ever censor anything is not very responsible, nor is it very smart from a business perspective.
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If they had stuck to a set of defined rules, it wouldn't be that bad. The consumers and developers would know what to expect they could choose to develop for or buy an iPhone based on a firm set of rules. What Apple is doing to completely arbitrary. They can and have banned fully developed Apps simply because they weren't their cup of tea.
 
slu said:
South Park is irrelevant to this discussion and what you think of South Park is even more irrelevant to this discussion. I can guarantee you that I think many things you like are complete drivel not fit for human consumption. So please drop the "my opinion of entertainment is better than your opinion of entertainment" routine because it is a waste of time.

When Apple decides to censor the apps allowed in the store, it is bad for everyone, especially since there seems to be no clear cut rules on what is allowed and what is not. Farting Apps = OK, South Park Apps = Not OK?

Apple can't have it both ways. They can't say it is illegal to jailbreak your phone, and then censor the applications adults can put on their own phone. They have every right to sell what they want, but I should have every right to jailbreak the phone to install apps I want on it if that is going to be the case.

And the South Park developers are not trying to "teach Apple" anything. They were trying to make their fans happy and were trying to make some money (for themselves and for Apple). By making this decision everyone loses, even Apple, as I am sure this app would have sold well. I am sure if they see the opportunity to do those things on the PRE or Android, they will do so, even if they were on the iPhone already.

And lastly my band's album is on iTunes and I am sure it is quite offensive to many people, yet is was no problem to get it up there. They just label it as Explicit.
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I agree with youu!!
 
Just as a note (in case no one has mentioned it yet), this app currently would only serve clips, NOT full episodes as I had hoped. Still, it doesn't mean they couldn't have added them later.
 
CTYankee said:
Maybe I'm the only one who applauds them for having standards of decency.
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This has nothing to do with decency at all. Apple acting like big brother and deciding for us what we like and don't like is getting old. It just makes jailbreaking an even more important thing with their devices.
 
sharp65 said:
This has nothing to do with decency at all. Apple acting like big brother and deciding for us what we like and don't like is getting old. It just makes jailbreaking an even more important thing with their devices.
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They are not deciding what you will like...rather what investors will like. They have to keep their standards such that the general public is happy, keeping investors happy.
 
Turmoil said:
Sorry Kidz, but that's life. When you own the store, you get to decide what goes in it.
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I agree, but you cannot then say it is illegal to jailbreak the device to put whatever you want on it. You don't have to sell the app, but you have no right to limit what I do on a device that I bought. What if Apple said you could only put music you bought on iTunes on your phone?
 
So we have the extremes of App controversy.

On one extreme is a tip calculator; totally uncontroversial and not something that peoples under 18 need to be kept from. Then you have an adult movie app; something that would be quite controversial and need to be kept from the kiddies. South park falls somewhere in the middle but everyone should agree you can't have adult movie apps appear on the app store for any kid to download.

So, where do you draw the line? This is a pretty boring question that has been answered by the MPAA and game rating companies among many others who assign minimum ages for access to content containing certain depictions and language.

Next question; how do you allow people of appropriate age to download mature content? Credit card ownership requires that you be 18 so providing credit card info might work. How does iTunes currently restrict downloads of rated R movies to peoples 18 and up?
 
slu said:
I agree, but you cannot then say it is illegal to jailbreak the device to put whatever you want on it. You don't have to sell the app, but you have no right to limit what I do on a device that I bought. What if Apple said you could only put music you bought on iTunes on your phone?
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They aren't really saying jailbreaking is illegal - they are just saying it violates the terms of the agreement (again, something that you signed/agreed to and they are the ones that made it so, tough *****, you willingly entered the sandbox so don't get all riled up about the edges).

I like SouthPark but I honestly couldn't give a crap about this. It is about Apple having a sense of decency, it is also about Apple not having a system set up for restricting access to offensive material (which I'm sure they'll reconcile shortly). The FCC does it, Apple does it, your local news does it, don't act so freakin' shocked...

I'd rather have Apple maintain some sense of control over offensive material until they are ready to restrict it to the appropriate parties then have the lawsuits flowing from PO'd parents about how their kids ended up looking at something like pron that was OK'd by Apple (I know SouthPark isn't pron but that's really the crux of the argument here - the restriction of Adult material to Adults).

Flame away...
 
EmperorDarius said:
Lame. I hope that Trey and Matt don't get too much pissed off.
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Look at what they did to Chef. I cannot wait for the iPhone episode that is sure to be on it's way now!!! It will be something I record, covert to iTunes, and play over and over on my iPhone!!!

Steve
 
CTYankee said:
They are not deciding what you will like...rather what investors will like. They have to keep their standards such that the general public is happy, keeping investors happy.
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Investors won't like when developers stop iPhone development and consumers stop buying them because of this crap.
 
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