Metro Silicon Valley_1017

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M E T R OAC T I V E . C O M | SA N J O S E . C O M | A P R I L 2 8 - M AY 4 , 2 0 1 0 | M E T R O S I L I C O N VA L L E Y

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sv 411.com A Call for Transparency In App Store THE iTunes App Store is nearly 2 years old, and Apple still has not published a clear set of guidelines about what type of content is and isn’t J<< EF <M@C N`k_ ef jkXk\[ gfc`Zp# _fn n`cc 8ggc\ Zljkfd\ij befn n_\k_\i k_\ jkl]] k_\pÊi\ allowed inside ^\kk`e^ ]fi k_\`i `GX[ _Xj Y\\e Z\ejfi\[6 apps. That’s a problem, especially for publishers eying the iPad as a potential platform for the future of publishing, and it’s an even bigger problem for readers.

you have to consider the logistics of embracing a new publishing medium such as the iPad. Media operations must integrate digital tablet production into their infrastructure, and it’s neither easy nor inexpensive to obtain the software developers, designers and content creators to make such a transition. And if advertisers invest more money in the iPad version of a publication, that pressures publishers to give priority to resources allocated to the iPad. —BRIAN X. CHEN, WIRED.COM/GADGETLAB satch99 This new Apple-asDisney censorship crap has gone too far. He’s getting so Big Brother it is scary. I would die before switching to Windblows, but if we are not to be treated as adults, then whatever Apple was is lost.

We in the press don’t know to what extent we can retain our editorial freedom in the App Store. Working with Apple’s current opaque policy, we’re left to trust that Apple will do the right thing. And time and time again, Apple’s App Store reviewers have been proven fallible, as recently shown by the rejection of Mark Fiore’s Pulitzer-winning cartoon.

oakland1929 When was the last time any of you complained when your local Walmart decided not to carry a certain flavor of cake mix. You are probably saying it isn’t the same thing. But it is. Music, books, videos, applications, cake mix, ice cream. They are all merchandise

Apple rejected the toon because it “ridicules public figures,” and after coming under fire in the press, the company approved the app. But in reversing its decision, Apple still did not make its content policy clear.

samagon This device is Apple’s, and the store is Apple’s, but the information presented through the store and through the device is NOT Apple’s, and they legally should have no control over the information I see or access on the device I purchase.

The fact there are so many questions points to a paramount concern: Readers don’t know what they could be missing when they’re reading the iPad edition of a publication, as opposed to its print or web version. The issue is poised to grow as more iPads sell. To understand,

singlemalt1964 The App store policy is intentionally opaque (much like the laws of China, where all of Apple’s products are now manufactured). This ensures that anything that King Steve doesn’t like will get turfed.


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