Indeed. Can you imagine if Amazon only sold books for the Kindle that were suitable for children 12 or younger?

And, again, this gets to the issue of DRM and the problems when the device you bought is really controlled by the company you bought it from rather than you.

That is true, but at the moment there is no sign that Apple have any intention of selling content on iTunes other than the existing music & movies. Even if they do, they would still be just one possible source of eBooks. I rarely buy music from iTunes, unless it is DRM-free, preferring to get it from CDs mostly.

However, if Apple blocked you consuming content that they hadn’t provided, the Interwebs would be in a revolt, to be sure!

So for the purposes of iPhone as eBook reader it seems to me to be a non issue. The bundled content seems to cause the problem here, and as it is their store, i guess they can police it as they see fit. This doesn’t stop me consuming ebooks, music, movies etc from other places on my iPhone.

That said, I recognize these choices are difficult. If Apple wants to try out some kind of filter for parents to use, that’s one possibility. But do we really want all books and other items to be at the level of a juvenile reading room?

Thanks, meanwhile, for sharing your views even if we disagree. – David

1) They’re not being “censored.” Nobody’s preventing them from posting their comic on their website (as they did), nor from replacing the version bundled with their app with some comic featuring happy bunnies and resubmitting it then selling their more violent comics through their own site. “Refusal to publish” is not censorship; otherwise you could say anyone whose manuscript is rejected by a publisher has been “censored.”

2) In the absence of a rating system for books sold through the store, Apple has to cater to the least common denominator and not tick anybody off. Not everybody would be delighted with a comic book that features people’s heads getting chopped off.

They already let a number of objectionable things slip through accidentally (such as the “slasher” app which looks like you’re stabbing someone—really bright, considering the recent rash of knife murders in Britain), so it’s not at all surprising that they might start to turn more of a jaundiced eye on things.

3) This sort of thing was bound to happen sooner or later, given how some people insist on pushing the edge in all things. Let’s see how Apple responds before we get too ticked off.

Also, funny thing is, looking at the interview linked on their site, the Infurious people are being considerably more philosophical about this than most of the people here.

TR: Do you think Apple were right to take this decision, given that the comic is, obviously, centred round comic-book violence?

PJH: I think Apple is right to do everything in it’s power to make the iPhone / iPod touch a mass market item, I think they’re wrong in allowing games in the App store to have ratings and not books or comics.

Oh noes, a graphic comic book with graphic graphics. Probably banned by some moron at Apple who thinks comix=Betty & Veronica.

Thanks,
David

I’m not even clear on the purpose of this app. Are these comics appbooks, like the one I reviewed in my post, where the comic is the app? Or are they separate?

If the latter, it would seem they could get around this by putting just the reader on the Apple store and selling the comics for it through their own site.

Seriously though, Apple’s action does kind of suck – at least at first glance.

I have no problem with Jobs or Bezos setting policy on what they will sell through their stores – they’re their stores they make the rules. If they feel that some content such as “Murderdome” is too risque then they can properly just say “no sale”.

What isn’t clear to me though is this – are they banning Comic Reader just because it came with Murderdome? If Comic Reader was sold with something more G-rated would Apple be OK with selling the Comic Reader app via iTunes?