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Apple Rejects Nine Inch Nails iPhone App

Posted by timothy on from the you-must-be-this-tall-and-this-melodic dept.

jarrettwold2002 writes "Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails announced via his Twitter account today, 'Apple rejects the NIN iPhone update because it contains objectionable content. The objectionable content referenced is "The Downward Spiral."' The initial NIN Access iPhone app garnered much fanfare (Wired article, Guardian article) and was approved by Apple. The update has been rejected due to an album reference. If Nine Inch Nails is having problems with censorship and approval what kind of problems are you having with the iPhone app approval process?"

6 of 397 comments (clear)

  1. Mistake on Apple's part by rob1980 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm not really into NIN but I watched the Youtube video explaining what the app is. This is something Apple should be promoting because it does a pretty good job of taking advantage of the platform's capabilities - not suppressing because it contains a reference to a 15-year old album.

  2. What the hell?! by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apple sells The Downward Spiral on iTunes!

    Apple is starting to sound like Sony, where two (or more) competing ideologies threaten to drag the entire company down. Jobs needs to issue a set of objective, fair guidelines that apply across ALL content Apple sells on ALL of its storefronts. And yes, those guidelines need to come from His Steveness Himself, so that random lackeys in the App Store aren't left making judgment calls on the company's strategic direction.

    This really is pretty outrageous; if you've seen the advance publicity for the NIN app, you'd probably agree that it was looking impressive as hell.

    1. Re:What the hell?! by Plunky · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "I want to fuck you like an animal / I want to feel you from the inside" is deliberately one of the most inflammatory chorus lines ever seen in the mainstream.. moms seeing those slick iphone commercials and thinking of buying one for christmas might freak if they heard about that song being "promoted" on the app store that their kid will be browsing innocently.

      Um, how do you suppose they got to be moms in the first place?

      and, I don't understand how its 'inflammatory'? It is crude but hey, thats what immature is all about..

    2. Re:What the hell?! by DMalic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I see this as a "risk" to the public of locked down devices. Yeah, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but it still pisses me off.

    3. Re:What the hell?! by nabsltd · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, after years of selling you DRM-infested music, Apple was one of the first* to ask to be able to sell without DRM so that they could re-sell you the same music, thus milking you for every penny as the GP said.

      *By "one of the first", I mean "third or fourth out of the six or seven large downloadable music stores". EMusic, Amazon and others all offered DRM-free music before the Apple iTunes store.

  3. Amazing.... by Eric+Freyhart · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have been a developer for over 30 years. My first application (we called them "programs" back then) was on the TRS-80 microcomputer sold by Radio Shack. In all this time I have seen a very disturbing trend towards closed operating systems and platforms. If the automotive industry operated the same way, you would be forced to only buy service and parts from "authorized" centers and distributors. This was long ago outlawed by state and federal regulations. If Microsoft were to only allow "approved" applications on their OS (computer or mobile), the federal government would be looking at a major case against their anti-competitive behaviour. Is there really a clause in the TOS for iPhone developers that they cannot say anything about a rejected application? Wow. I cannot understand how any company in todays market can get away with that. Well, lets see... Microsoft: open and free development for their platform, and will run on multiple hardware configurations. Google: open and free development for their platform, and will run on multiple hardware configurations. Apple: closed platform with final say of any application developed, and with a percentage of all applications being paid to Apple Corp. Can someone tell me again why I should by an iPhone? Can someone tell me why Apple has not been taken to court? Can someone explain to me the hype on why Apple is so much better than MS?