14 DAY TRIAL // Apple approved and then rejected an iPhone application that was meant to raise awareness about the suffering of those who actually build the handsets, and other mobile devices like it.
Paolo Pedercini, the author of the 99-cent iOS game, used a cartoon-styled interface to criticize the impact of mobile devices to those who make them, as well as to the environment.
Parts of the game, for example, task the players with catching (Foxconn) factory workers who were attempting to commit suicide by jumping from buildings.
Foxconn has been heavily criticized by the media for the harsh working conditions on its iPhone assembly lines.
Other parts show people in Africa working hard to dig up rare materials that are used in the manufacturing process of mobile phones.
Mr. Pedercini was planning to donate any revenues generated from the game to organizations that protect labor rights, as well as to other groups that “are working to stop the horrors represented in the game.”
“The story was meant to generate some discussion about hardware and our socioeconomic impact as consumers of electronics,” he said, according to The New York Times’ Bits blog. “But now it’s becoming more about market censorship.”
Soon after seeing Phone Story approved in the App Store, Pedercini tweeted about the release with a message that said, “Announcing Phone Story: the anti-iPhone game for iPhone.”
Pedercini followed with another tweet some three hours later announcing his app had gotten yanked from Apple’s digital distribution system.
Contacted for clarification on the matter, Apple spokesman Tom Neumyar, confirmed that the company had pulled the app out of the store on Tuesday saying, “We removed the app because it violates our developer guidelines.”
Neumyar was asked to elaborate, but he declined to do so.
Pedercini, however, was able to get more out of Apple’s public relations department.
A representative reportedly called him to let him know why his app had been pulled. The reason was that, according to Apple’s guidelines, any app that depicts crude and objectionable content, or the abuse of children, is subject to rejection.
Moreover, the Apple rep said, apps cannot be used to collect donations, per the App Store guidelines.
Admitting defeat on the iOS front with his Phone Story app, Mr. Pedercini plans to roll out an Android version.
He also made a good point in saying that “[Apple] also controls the iTunes stores and distribution of music. What will be the reaction if they decide to remove all the music that is deemed objectionable and crude? That is the issue that is really emerging here.”
