Submitted by Bob Bhatnagar on
Following a crackdown on "overtly sexual" content, Apple has had its censors remove 5,000 applications from the iPhone AppStore. The app purge began on Friday, with over 4,000 apps removed due to their "sexually arousing" or implied sexual language and images.
To date, the Apple cleansing is said to have removed almost three percent of the total number of iPhone applications previously available. In a strange twist, apps representing large media companies but still promoting sexual content remain on the AppStore.
Victoria's Secret, Playboy, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2010, FHM and Maxim are among the apps with suggestive content that remain available. This is hardly the first time Apple has been accused of being inconsistent with its AppStore approval process.
Some had theorized that Apple would relax content standards with the introduction of iPhone OS 3.0, since a content rating system was added to help guide consumers to age-appropriate content. Apparently this was not the case.
Many developers are now going to have to deal with new decency standards and previously approved applications facing permanent removal from the AppStore.