Apple Rejects Nine Inch Nails iPhone App

jarrettwold2002 writes "Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails announced via his Twitter account today, 'Apple rejects the NIN iPhone update because it contains objectionable content. The objectionable content referenced is "The Downward Spiral."' The initial NIN Access iPhone app garnered much fanfare (Wired article, Guardian article) and was approved by Apple. The update has been rejected due to an album reference. If Nine Inch Nails is having problems with censorship and approval what kind of problems are you having with the iPhone app approval process?"

Re:Enough Already

[kraln]

Maybe if those other platforms you mentioned had sdks and documentation nearly as nice. I've developed for blackberry, and for android, and it's a crapshoot.

Re:What the hell?!

[retchdog]

That novelty band, Presidents of the United States of America, already has a streaming music app: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/02/bands-bypass-itunes-by-streaming-music-through-iphone-apps.ars [arstechnica.com]

Most fans don't care about where their money goes; have no inclination to design artwork for you; and might be a little confused about why your app wants their credit card number.

Re:What the hell?!

[Firehed]

They have complete control of the App Store. There's absolutely nothing stopping them from forcing developers to rate their apps for intended audience, much like the TV ratings (Y, Y7, 14, MA, with the D,S,L,V flags) or video games. It allows them to still disallow outright porn while flagging potentially-offensive software appropriately.

Re:What the hell?!

[cdwillis]

That novelty band, Presidents of the United States of America, already has a streaming music app: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/02/bands-bypass-itunes-by-streaming-music-through-iphone-apps.ars [arstechnica.com]

The Presidents of the United States of America isn't a novelty band.

Most fans don't care about where their money goes; have no inclination to design artwork for you; and might be a little confused about why your app wants their credit card number.

Most fans. Nine Inch Nails fans are not most fans.

Re:What the hell?!

[Sebilrazen]

For every Slashdot poster, there's 1,000 lurkers. For every 1,000 fans who won't lift a finger, there will be 1 who will contribute.

Your image link is broken, here's one [useit.com] that works.

I think your conclusions from the image are off by a couple of orders. The image states 100% of content is from 10% of users, that implies for every 1 poster there is 9 lurkers. Unless my maths are wrong, which could be the case at this terrible hour.

Re:What the hell?!

[Sebilrazen]

Parent is correct about NIN fans.

Nine Inch Nails fans have allowed Trent to leave the studio system behind, some of us even pay for the free content, like Ghosts I-IV and The Slip.

I do it because if I like an artist I want what the artist comes up with, not what the studio says the artist needs to produce to make something marketable. Hell I do it even if I normally don't like the artist because I want the artists to move to self production and dissemination. Jill Sobule [jillsnextrecord.com] and Saul Williams [wikipedia.org] have released Studio-less discs.

Re:Amazing....

[Anonymous Coward]

You guys are clueless! Microsoft/Nintendo/Sony all operate with the same system for their videogame consoles. Nintendo for years ban any game that had red blood.

And as for the "What gives Apple the rights..." The fact that they are providing you with the delivery mechanism for your applications. Also they verify that your app won't take down the device every few minutes. Look at everything negative about Palm OS and it's usually due to crappy 3rd Party developer code. Except for Treo 700p that was a POS straight out of the box.

Re:Amazing....

[Christian Henry]

If the automotive industry operated the same way, you would be forced to only buy service and parts from "authorized" centers and distributors.

The industry *still* operates this way. Ever attempted to have an independent repair shop perform an OBD-II diagnostic test on a higher-end automobile?

Oh sure, there's nothing preventing the independent shop from retrieving the codes from an OBD-II tool, but without the necessary manuafacturer documentation, good luck determining what the codes mean.

Re:A more interesting question

[tepples]

It's really, really sad that in this country refraining from calling people niggers is a thing that automatically makes you a liberal.

Chris Rock explained that niggers are people who choose to underachieve. By far, not all black people are niggers.

Re:What the hell?!

[c_sd_m]

You don't need to sign a contract for an iPod Touch which can also access the App Store. You can buy stuff from iTunes with a gift card so you don't need a credit card (at least in the US). I was a 13-y/o NIN fan, though my parents probably figured out I was listening to the loud music I was playing. Someone's older brother would burn a copy for you if you couldn't get it yourself.

Apple could just let parents do the parenting (or wait for the US gov't to do it).