I received word last week from Apple that my latest iPhone app submission was being rejected because…
it contains content that ridicules public figures and is in violation of Section 3.3.12 from the iPhone SDK Agreement which states:
“Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.”
What’s so offensive? This image by political cartoonist Dave Counts, who incidentally, doesn’t mind satirizing the outgoing administration either.
The app itself is a collection of Masyu puzzles with hidden Obama quotes. The solution of the puzzle traces out the quote. Here’s the first one in the collection:
The solution is found following the same rules as any other Masyu puzzle, and because it is unique, it can be found from the puzzle structure alone. But when solved, starting from the top left, it traces out a well-known Obama quote. Do you see it?
Update
To mark this event, I’ve created this special commemorative Masyu puzzle. Trace the path, find the quote, but this one’s by me. Enjoy!
4 comments ↓
Good grief; it seems like they are looking for a pretext for rejecting the application and/or are determined that iPhone applications are going to be bland and devoid of any interesting content whatsoever.
This definitely doesn’t ridicule the President-elect.
Even if it did ridicule the president-elect, big deal. We have the freedom to do just that. Nobody seems to care if we make the President the butt of every Joke.
I have to admit that the “offensive or defamatory” nature of this content completely escapes me. If you were to present this image on a quiz, I would probably guess that the person displaying it was PRO-Obama.
The inner-gerwerkkins of App-Approval-Central remain a mystery. My understanding is that this is true even within Apple.
Saw this via a tech crunch link. I am African American and I dont find this offensive at all. I think Apple and are being hypersensitive and I agree Obama as President should be susceptible to the same jokes.