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RIM Trying To Woo Customers With Porn, Gambling Apps?

AZA43 writes "Everybody knows that BlackBerry-maker RIM is hurting these days. But is it hurting enough to try to attract new customers with the promise of porn and/or gambling apps? A new rating system added to RIM's BlackBerry App World store suggests that it just may be that desperate. The new 'Adult' rating covers, 'graphic sexual content, graphic nudity,' 'graphic violence,' and gambling apps 'as permitted by law.' And that suggests RIM will allow this kind of content into App World, in stark contrast to Apple's no-porn-on-the-iPhone stand."

41 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. I dunno, are they? by jhoegl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why are you asking a question... isnt reporting supposed to answer questions?
    It is like when the news asks "Why are gas prices so high?" and then never answer it, but instead focus on the woes of the common person having to pay $200/week because they opted in on that oversized pickup that made their penis seem bigger.

    Rant Off....

    1. Re:I dunno, are they? by Penguinisto · · Score: 2

      To hell with that - they forgot an even bigger question:

      What in the unholy hell are all the BES admins going to do about this? Upgrade their server (bleah), or pray for patches, or build a ginormous blacklist, or...?

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    2. Re:I dunno, are they? by PsychoSlashDot · · Score: 2

      To hell with that - they forgot an even bigger question:

      What in the unholy hell are all the BES admins going to do about this? Upgrade their server (bleah), or pray for patches, or build a ginormous blacklist, or...?

      I suspect BES admins will use the existing policies to deny users permission to install applications.

      Any shop that's got pornanoia will already have architecture in place to filter content the hypothetical BBBoobies app will need to reach. Because accessing web content is all done through the BES MDS, it won't really be any different.

      Any shop that allows their users to do whatever they want probably won't suddenly change.

      --
      "Oh no... he found the .sig setting."
    3. Re:I dunno, are they? by masternerdguy · · Score: 2

      Except for me because I ride the bus. My transit costs total to 30 dollars a month exactly. Get with the program.

      --
      To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
    4. Re:I dunno, are they? by Gavagai80 · · Score: 2

      You apparently opted to live nowhere near your work. Gas is cheap if you're not driving an unreasonable amount.

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      This space intentionally left blank
    5. Re:I dunno, are they? by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Funny

      You must have a tiny penis, then.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    6. Re:I dunno, are they? by Larryish · · Score: 2, Funny

      Now somebody will make an adult app called "Rim Job".

    7. Re:I dunno, are they? by Ambvai · · Score: 3, Funny

      You must have a wonderful penis, but no sperm anymore.

  2. Uhhhh by M0j0_j0j0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why not! are they like a catholic company or something!!

    1. Re:Uhhhh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Exactly. And then there is Apple.

      Steve Jobs: I don't want porn on the iPhone, but I'll fuck over anyone who gets in my way and sue the little guys into oblivion if they so much as think of getting out of line.

      Which is more obscene?

    2. Re:Uhhhh by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Blackberry is the phone of choice for organised crime as was revealed very clearly in the London riots. So maybe they've decided to embrace the dark side further.

      Well, yes, politicians have been using Blackberries for years. Try and keep up.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    3. Re:Uhhhh by stanlyb · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So, you have a choice: Either fuck and have BB, or be fucked and have iPhone......
      Is this really a choice?

    4. Re:Uhhhh by Deorus · · Score: 3, Funny

      If porn was allowed in the App Store, imagine how creative the multitouch apps could become on the iPad... I am already thinking of a cunnilingus training app...

    5. Re:Uhhhh by stephanruby · · Score: 2

      No, that would imply nude pictures of little boys. And I don't think they have that yet.

  3. Porn app on the iPhone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I know my iPod touch had a porn app... it was called Safari.

  4. Re:Really? by VinylRecords · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What could compete with the glory of undulating breasts in 1080p?

    How about a real woman's breasts undulating in front of you?

  5. I hope the gambling apps will be tested to be fair by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I hope the gambling apps will be tested to be fair and 100% legal in areas as permitted by law.

    Now why can we in the US have legal on line sports betting?

  6. Sign of the End approaching by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I usually associated the impending death of shopping centers with the presence of video stores, like Blockbuster. Dollar stores are also a sign things are less than fashionable in the prospective renter department.

    RIM going in this direction is effectively encouraging undesirable, unfashionable business, which could be their death knell. Sure, there's a market for such things, but it's not going to be in the board room, sensitive as business is regarding Harrassment claims.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  7. Re:Really? by X0563511 · · Score: 2

    But that's expensive! ... also some of us hate going out and playing that whole game anyway. Just about the only chance I'm getting any is a coworker or someone knocking on my door... and I doubt the last one ever happens.

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  8. A new low by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Are you fucking serious? Porn? Just because there is an adult rating you equate it with porn?

    Why not just change the name of this site to the "Apple Felcher's Worship Site" and get it over with?

    1. Re:A new low by whisper_jeff · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As a follow up to my own post (after reader through more links), I am baffled where the author of the article got that graphic because RIM's dev blog has a different graphic - http://rimdevblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/app-world-content-rating-1.jpg - and it has a very different limit to sexual content.
        To quote:

      "Black Berry App World will not accept apps with graphic nudity."

      So, while the article's graphic pretty clearly does describe porn, I am baffled as to where that graphic came from...

      Seems like quite the FUD to me...

  9. Re:no-porn + app store lock in = anit trust MS / a by UnknowingFool · · Score: 2

    Antitrust does not and has never meant "it doesn't have all the options I want". One of the criteria monopoly tests is that no substitutes exist. Since Android does have that option, you are out of luck trying to argue that in court.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  10. Re:Porn on Blackberry by acariquara · · Score: 5, Funny

    *RIMshot*

    --
    Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
  11. Blackberry's thought process by dontPanik · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah? Well, I'm going to go build my own mobile marketplace! With blackjack, and hookers! In fact, forget the mobile marketplace!

    --
    "Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." - Pablo Picasso
  12. freedom by Lehk228 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    blackberries have had "sideloading" and ability to load audio files as ringers and chimes since forever, they have always been more respecting of personal freedom, i can load any compatible and signed OS image regardless of what my carrier wants bundled. only thing i could ask for would be the ability to load OS images signed by other parties/ untrusted keys and simply have the security chip authenticate only against things that recognize the other signing keys as meaningful

    --
    Snowden and Manning are heroes.
  13. Re:Really? by auLucifer · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... or someone knocking on my door...

    I've seen enough Pizza related movies to see where you're going with this

    --
    If I was witty I'd put something funny here but, as it stands, I am not and have just wasted seconds of your life
  14. Double standards by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Slightly on topic, I always wondered why "sex and violence" are mentioned in the same breath so much. It's usually by people who have hang-ups about sex. They want to portray sex as a bad thing, so they always bracket it in with violence which is unquestionably bad. It's a bit like Sen McCarthy who tried to smear the Screen Actors' Guild by repeatedly asking "Have you ever been a member of the Communist Party or the Screen Actors' Guild", implying that the two were related. Or like clueless bookstore managers who group Sci Fi and Fantasy in together as if they're the same genre.

    However these people do more than consider sex and violence to be equally reprehensible, they actually consider sex to be worse than violence. Hence it's okay for a TV show to show someone getting their head sliced off and blood everywhere, but God forbid if anyone should get a glimpse of a nipple, vagina, penis, and other such parts of the human body which (practical though they may be) are evil! Murder? Fine. Lovemaking?! Think of the children!!

    I'm speaking of American TV of course. Other parts of the world have less Victorian attitudes to sex.

    --
    Drill baby drill - on Mars
    1. Re:Double standards by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Funny

      Why do you hate America?

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      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    2. Re:Double standards by Dhalka226 · · Score: 2

      I agree with most of what you said, with one notable exception: Violence is not unquestionably bad. It may be unfortunate, but there are plenty of times it is not only fully justified, but the right thing to do.

    3. Re:Double standards by cptdondo · · Score: 4, Funny

      Because America hates itself? Look at our presidential candidates for god's sake!

  15. Poker, oh yes! by Lawmeister · · Score: 2

    I would love to be able to play on PokerStars or BC's PlayNow.com while watching TV - no longer hindered by cables or relatively unwieldy laptops.

  16. Bah by no-body · · Score: 2

    Article smacks right into the tormented relationship of people with sex (power and money).

    Got nothing else to worry about?

    Good that the page has a thumb-down button.

    RIM is a Canadian company - people may not be as burdened there

  17. Re:Porn on Blackberry by wbr1 · · Score: 2

    *RIMshot*

    No, *RIMjob*

    --
    Silence is a state of mime.
  18. Desparate or Freemarket? by bityz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Normally /. is up in arms over any attempt to censor developers. Now somebody is saying "we won't censor developers, but we will make it easy for users to self-select" and they're getting trashed for it.

    Seems a little hypocritical.

  19. Lame story by Tridus · · Score: 4, Funny

    What, you mean some company doesn't impose their pathetic puritanical standards on their customers? OMG alert the presses!

    --
    -- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
  20. Re:I hope the gambling apps will be tested to be f by PsychoSlashDot · · Score: 2

    I hope the gambling apps will be tested to be fair and 100% legal in areas as permitted by law.

    If by "fair" you mean "heavily weighted in the favor of the company who runs it", I'm sure your hopes will be satisfied.

    --
    "Oh no... he found the .sig setting."
  21. One Word . . . . by wirehead_rick · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Genius.

    It seems the power of porn and technology has been underestimated over and over.

    Porn drove the Video Cassette business and is probably responsible for VHS defeating the superior Beta format.

    It is also probably responsible for the huge early popularity of the Internet.

    Barring backlash from prudish regulators this move can't be underestimated . . .

    --
    -- Mean People Suck
  22. What MORONS! by musixman · · Score: 2

    Idiots, those over payed executives surely do not have expendable income to spend on fucking & gambling! This is the best idea I've ever heard come out of rim so far.

  23. Seems like FUD by whisper_jeff · · Score: 5, Informative

    I posted this elsewhere in the discussion but it might get buried and missed. While the article has an interesting graphic which describes an adult rating that clearly includes porn ( http://blogs.cio.com/sites/cio.com/files/u80/BB_AppWorldRatings.jpg ), the actual RIM dev blog ( http://devblog.blackberry.com/2011/11/blackberry-app-world-content-ratings/?CPID=TWDNPI&Date=113011 ) has an entirely different graphic ( http://rimdevblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/app-world-content-rating-1.jpg ) which _prohibits graphic sexual content._

    I don't know about you but I think I'll take my information from the actual source and chalk this article up to nothing more than FUD...

  24. CIO.com losers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dear CIO.com - I just wanted to take this opportunity to welcome you to the electronic age and to the Internet. Just a tip for you that pornography and gambling (the work of the very devil himself) is readily available on nearly every open and closed platform, mobile or fixed that exists today.

    I can appreciate your wanting to elevate your cute little website by attempting to cast RIM in a bad light as Research in Motion is already in the media quite a bit lately. You may as well jump on the bandwagon as it's fashionable to kick someone while they are down it seems. Too bad Microsoft wasn't doing this on their Windows Phone platform too so you could shit on both companies at the simultaneously and be a real champion!

    Excellent move stating that you admit to not seeing any apps of "that" nature, and that you think it's "good" that the company is not restricting apps based on content. By doing this, you have successfully convinced me that you are an unbiased contributor that has nothing personal against RIM. I trust you have no ulterior motive at this point - thank goodness you made those comments, I feel much better about your impartiality now.

    I wanted to thank-you for crow-barring a quote from Steve Jobs into an article related to RIM. It's really important to always compare what everyone else is doing against Apple. It was a real eye opener knowing that the immortalized Steve Jobs is still protecting all of us users by not permitting pornographic or gambling applications on our phones - what a terrible world it would be if I could play cards or see some tits on my phone. Steve Jobs, thanks for looking out for us.

    Mr. Sacco, admit it, you have an iPhone and love it don't you? Fact is, RIM now has a mechanism in place where content can be classified and filtered according to the user. My cable company has pornography channels, but you need to be of age to access those channels. I applaud BlackBerry in not restricting what can be delivered over the App World just because some religious or enlightened asshole has a problem with gambling or porn.

    By the way, the BlackBerry PlayBook is great as you can watch porn on it, spunk on the display and easily clean if off.

  25. Re:Really? by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 4, Funny

    How about a real woman's breasts undulating in front of you?....

    ... posted on Slashdot on a Friday night.

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    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)