Apple Yanks "Sweatshop Themed" Game From App Store 184
First time accepted submitter danhuby writes "Apple have removed sweatshop-themed game Sweatshop HD by UK developers LittleLoud from their app store citing clause 16.1 — 'Apps that present excessively objectionable or crude content will be rejected.' According to the PocketGamer article, Littleloud's head of games, Simon Parkin, told Pocket Gamer that 'Apple removed Sweatshop from the App Store last month stating that it was uncomfortable selling a game based around the theme of running a sweatshop.'"
Game Dev Story (Score:3, Insightful)
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You're a single mother trying to put your kid through college...
Re:Game Dev Story (Score:5, Insightful)
It was probably fine until someone noticed that it was very much like a Foxconn facility. The "objectionable" in their approval terms is pretty loose and doesn't mention who the app has to be "objectionable" to.
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Couldn't they then just say it is a training program?
Re:Game Dev Story (Score:5, Funny)
But then its competing directly with an Apple "product".
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So, change up the graphics to make the game look and play just like an iDevice factory. Call it iFactory. Make Apple reject a game that honestly mirrors their own business practices.
Re:Game Dev Story (Score:5, Funny)
No biggie. The developer can just offer it for download on their site like Adblock is doing after Google kicked them from their Play store.
Oh wait...
Port it to the Mac (Score:2)
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How hard would it be to port the game to the Mac and offer it for download?
Not as hard as it would be for iPhone and iPad users to carry around Mac laptops in their pockets just to play this game.
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The game's price just went up. Now you need a hardware dongle called an "Android phone" to play it.
A port seems in their best interests now. No point wasting all those assets.
Re:Game Dev Story (Score:5, Insightful)
Dear sir;
In the future, please refrain from comparing 80 hours a week spent hacking out a video game to 80 hours a week spent standing and endlessly performing the same repetitive task in a factory filled with noise, toxic chemicals and dangerous industrial equipment.
Cordially yours,
The Real World
Re:Game Dev Story (Score:5, Funny)
Obviously, you've never worked at EA.
Apple (Score:5, Funny)
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Yeah, requirements of FoxConn. Not FoxConn's subcontractors.
Inspectors go in, FoxConn guy says "Oh no, these are workers of PhantomCorp, not our employees" and the Inspector goes the other way.
PS, Angry Birds smashing pigs? That makes me uncomfortable! Very uncomfortable!
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Inspectors go in, FoxConn guy says "Oh no, these are workers of PhantomCorp, not our employees" and the Inspector goes the other way.
I wonder what evidence you have for this. BTW, Apple performs audits at Foxconn and right now about 150 subcontractors, and at least two companies lost their contracts after an audit.
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Killing people is less offensive to Apple than not paying people enough.
Re:Apple (Score:5, Interesting)
Nope. This exact thing has happened before - except it was Nike, not Apple:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blnike.htm [about.com]
Re:Apple (Score:5, Insightful)
What, so only APPLE is allowed to run a sweatshop?
No, no, no. Apple doesn't run any sweatshops.
They contract that out. That way, they can be shocked - shocked! - to learn that their third party contractors are running sweatshops and hiring children. Plus they can "drop" the manufacturers who hire children, just to rehire them under a different name when people stop paying attention.
Plus, Apple's contractors have the best suicide-prevention nets in the industry! Who needs "livable working conditions" when you have suicide prevention nets?
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Re:Apple (Score:4, Informative)
They probably have a patent on it.
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What, so only APPLE is allowed to run a sweatshop?
I think that this is obviously just Apple getting too big and attempting to throw its weight around to reduce competition. Of course, I could just be comparing Apple$ to Oranges... or Micro$oft.
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Wow, you substituted a dollar sign for the 's'. That is pretty cool and original!
Eh, he missed a few. I'm not impressed.
The definition of PC (Score:5, Insightful)
If it makes you feel uncomfortable, force people to stop talking about it. The definition of political correctness!
Re:The definition of PC (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not really though. The original intent of political correctness was to provide a way for people to be self-critical about the subtle biases that they engage in when they speak.
When you say "black" as a description of someone, for example, your description carries with it connotations that aren't necessarily true, especially since in western culture the word black is historically associated with evil(i.e. black magic, black death, black mark, blacklist, etc.). Political correctness has never been legally forced on anyone, and it's a straw-man to call it "forcing" people to do things. The social judgement people get for failing to be politically correct is no different than the judgement that people get for being rude.
I won't say political correctness has never been about people being offended, because many people invoking the concept have as poor an understanding of it as you do, but that's not the point.
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The problem being that many of the people invoking it, and not having a real understanding of it, manage to get other people in court and charged with offenses anyway.
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[citation needed]
No really. That seems like the sort of thing that, in the U.S. might just happen to have a constitutional limitation that the courts might just invoke. I'd love to see a court case where a judge ruled that "non-PC" speech was somehow a violation of a federal or state statute.
I'm not saying it wouldn't ever be brought up in court: It could be relevant character evidence in another crime, so I'm not looking for examples of that, but of any sort of standing conviction that isn't completely m
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the word black is historically associated with evil
It's also been associated with entirely neutral things, such as the colour black, a surname, the name of a particular type of shrubby tree (blackthorn), certain fruits (blackcurrant, bleckberry), working with iron (blacksmith), certain birds (blackbird) and so on. And it's also been associated with good: the traditional choice of colour for the clergy is black robes.
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I won't argue that words aren't complex. But there being neutral words associated with the color black doesn't alter the fact that the definitions of the word black, in the English dictionary, includes this entry: connected with or invoking the supernatural and especially the devil. That's a hell of a thing to attach to a whole group of people, even incidentally.
There's also more than just connotations to consider, though. That was only part of the idea that I happened to bring up for the sake of brevit
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But there being neutral words associated with the color black doesn't alter the fact that the definitions of the word black, in the English dictionary, includes this entry: connected with or invoking the supernatural and especially the devil. That's a hell of a thing to attach to a whole group of people, even incidentally.
Like you said: words are complex. Words have multiple meaning. Outside of the area of race, people don't seem to have a problem distinguishing them, and correctly dismissing any supposed l
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Except that skin colour is the most obvious indicators of race. It's not 100% definitive, but it does give a lot of information.
Note: I'm not trying to call you racist, but please note that this, is in fact, a subtle judgement of people on the basis of their skin color. Whether you intended it or not, it's there. It's this kind of thing that PC language is attempting to draw attention to and avoid.
That doesn't even make any sense. Skin color is a great way to describe people and identify individual people that you are unfamiliar with. Using color words to approximate skin color (white, black, etc) carries no judgement at all and is an entirely superficial description. The PC practice of linking skin color to assumed ancestral heritage and reframing the physical description of the person as a cultural identity is what is racist.
(Not all people of African descent have particularly dark skin, but if the
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Charlize Theron is, in the literal sense, an African American. But I'd never refer to her as such, because, well, 'African American' carries as much preconceived baggage as 'black 'does.
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And it's also been associated with good: the traditional choice of colour for the clergy is black robes.
Umm, I don't think you're supporting your own argument very well here, given what's been going on in the Catholic church recently.
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No, it wasn't. [wikipedia.org]
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You're talking about the term. I'm talking about the thing itself, which predates the stupid politically invented slur. That isn't really a correction.
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I thought the original intent of political correctness was to terrify military officers into obeying orders and never criticizing the administration for fear of imprisonment or death and that the term somehow got twisted into other uses.
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Yet the tea-party movement being labeled as racist is about the only similar effect I can think of going the other way, and that had limited traction.
Teabaggers what what?
Re:The definition of PC (Score:5, Insightful)
Any time you have a movement or an ideology that affects people who don't share that ideology you see outrage. That outrage often comes with straw-man tactics used in discourse.
I can think of many examples of so-called "right wing" or "conservative" ideologies that are on the receiving end. The "pro-life" movement is one example. To most who are "pro-life" the issue that is that life begins at conception and so an abortion is literally murder. But many on the "pro-choice" side have accused the "pro-life" crowd of hating women and wanting to enslave them. That's a very blatant straw-man argument from my point of view. And FWIW, I'm probably more "pro-choice" than most.
Fiscal conservatism receives straw-man arguments all the time. Whenever people accuse a fiscal conservative of being "on the side of the wealthy" or "greedy", whenever someone claims that libertarianism is "anarchy for rich people" those are straw-men arguments.
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Financial conservatism on the other hand, there are straw men against it, but that hasn't hampered it in the least. I'm saying the left seems paralyzed by them, while the right shakes them off, not that people don't make straw men against everything they oppose.
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Fiscal conservatism receives straw-man arguments all the time. Whenever people accuse a fiscal conservative of being "on the side of the wealthy" or "greedy", whenever someone claims that libertarianism is "anarchy for rich people" those are straw-men arguments.
No one accuses fiscal conservatives of being "on the side of the wealthy" or "greedy". People accuse Republicans of being "on the side of the wealthy" or "greedy" while also assuming that they are conservatives, which they used to be. Very few Republicans seem to be fiscal conservatives these days.
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This is exactly the bullshit you're against. You're arguing against hyperbole with more hyperbole, as you've framed it as if the pro-choice side literally believes the pro-life wishes women hurt and wants them in chains.
The point of that hyberbole is to make people consider the difference between stated intent and actual intent and actual results. They may say they want to save fetuses from murder
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It is exactly, every one bit, a "straw man" argument because not one single person is making any of the claims that you are saying they make. You are building up an argument for the sake of tearing it down. That is a "straw man" by very definition.
Your post shows a complete lack of having even read my paragraph, which clearly stated that to many abortion is about preventing a murder, and has nothing to do with "wanting the woman to do anything." To them it is about preventing a wrong, not enforcing a partic
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This is off-topic, I know you were half joking, and this is not particularly aimed at you, but it irritates me when I see that quote.
The typical application of that quote only indicates that you are intelligent enough to understand your shortcomings but not sufficiently intelligent to be able to understand and internalize the notion that rational action based on the knowledge, understanding, and insight that you do possess will result in better outcomes than either chronic indecision or irrational behavior
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It the difference between huge anti-war protests being blacked-out of news coverage (at least until after the war has started), while handfuls of individuals called Tea Party immediately become media darlings when they surround town hall meetings with guns.
There are just certain topics and demographics that prompt discomfort or hostility in the corporate media.
Speaking of discomfort... Someone didn't realize I have karma to burn. :)
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No. The definition of 'political correctness' is 'handy term of abuse you can use to dismiss anyone who wants you to respect other people in any way'.
iOS App Store, not Mac App Store (Score:2)
-- I'm a Mac.
-- And I'm a PC.
The article claims that it was an iPad game on the iOS App Store, not a Mac game on the Mac App Store. The only connection with Macs is that a Mac was used to build and submit it.
Thinking??? (Score:5, Funny)
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They didn't grant copyrights for a biography sim (Score:1)
Apple didn't grant them permission to create a simulator on how apple works so it was easier to just toss the app out before suing them for infringing their history. I'm also sure there were rounded corners somewhere in the app.
cant have a game based on the core business.. (Score:2)
That's what makes them uncomfortable? (Score:2, Insightful)
I should think the objectionable thing would be the existence of those sweatshops. It's apparently just talking about them that is offensive? If we just look the other way and pretend they don't exist, then everything is peachy?
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It's apparently just talking about them that is offensive? If we just look the other way and pretend they don't exist, then everything is peachy?
It's a common defense mechanism for people who have done things that they would probably consider morally evil: pretend they never happened.
Seattle Rex said it best (Score:4, Insightful)
"Increasingly, Apple is not for doâ(TM)ers. It is not for power users. It is not for creators. It is not for people who think different. It is for posers. It is for hipsters. It is for metrosexuals. It is for wannabes and pretenders."
Oooh, I know a game... (Score:5, Funny)
This game will be called "Patent War"...
The object is to collect as many patents growing around the landscape stuff them in your pocket. The more patents you collect, the better are your chances against the Innovation Monster. Defeat the Innovation Monster and collect Gold Coins. Use the Gold Coins to buy Senators who can help build fences to keep the Innovation Monster away. Once you level up, defeat the Consumer Rights Beast and collect even more Gold Coins and even the Vorpal DRM which can stave off the Indie Media Goblin and the DIY Music Devil.
Typical (Score:5, Insightful)
Kill hundreds of thousands of virtual people in videogames? No prob! Force them to work in a sweatshop? That makes me a little uncomfortable.
Walled Garden (Score:5, Insightful)
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Wish I had some Karma.
PlantationVille still a go (Score:3)
What could possibly go wrong?
Tapper? (Score:2)
Re:Tapper? (Score:4, Interesting)
What about the Tapper game that's been around since the dawn of time ...
You do realize Tapper was reworked to use Root Beer in most of its iterations including a version for Arcades, the version for Coleco and Atari, and even the version on Xbox Live all are "Rootbeer Tapper"... even the Tapper scene in "Wreck it Ralph"; looks like the original Tapper game, but the Bud logo is not present, and you can clearly hear a patron interrupt Tapper to order a Root Beer.
Probably not the best example.
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Rather people working too hard for too little pay.
Hmm.. you are probably right.
And in that line of thought its particularly ironic, as the game was originally made to be played in bars, and was sponsored by Budweiser. Clearly that industry had no qualms about poking a little fun at itself.
The only controversy Tapper ever had was when it made its way to more child friendly arcades and the alcohol theme became an issue.
Too close to home. (Score:5, Insightful)
Easy fix for the developers (Score:2)
Just turn the barbed wire to angle OUTWARD.
iPhone 6 has airco (Score:3)
Just got confirmation that the iPhone 6 has airco built in. So sweat is no longer an option and will be banned from the Appstore.
Streisand Effect (Score:5, Insightful)
Never heard of Sweatshop HD before this...
Now I MUST PLAY IT!!!!
Good work, Apple, the dev couldn't pay for this kind of publicity.
Simply rename the App! (Score:5, Funny)
"Do as I say..." posts Apple executive staff (Score:2)
Not as I do.
Really? Mass murder games are cool (Score:2)
But non PC bullshit isn't. Swear to god I want the next fucking asteroid to hit us.
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And FoxConn uses rule #189.
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Rule of Acquisition [wikipedia.org]
Re:Block this dick from posting (Score:4, Insightful)
There is a perfectly workable system already in place that relies on, rather than centralised censorship, crowd-sourced moderation. Unfortunately, it's ruined by chumps who reply to to the trolls, thus bringing otherwise rapidly hidden posts to the attention of all and sundry.
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You say that like it a bad thing. Doesn't matter. Censorship is bad... I am quite capable of filtering what I see myself. And I don't care if the mods disagree.
Re:Block this dick from posting (Score:5, Interesting)
They could even rank it down to a -2 which is only visible to the randomly designated mods so they can rescue posts that end up there without subjecting everyone else to that shit.
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After the first few hours of a discussion (Score:4, Insightful)
Why bother requiring intervention - just get rank it down and let a mod rescue it if and only if it was somehow relevant.
I can think of three reasons.
First, moderators tend not to rescue posts after the first few hours of a discussion.
Second, users can set a threshold on whether replies show up in their Message Center [slashdot.org]. An on-topic reply to one's comment that's robo-modded due to forbidden keywords might never show up. I, for one, depend on Message Center for notifications of replies to my comments.
Third, Slashdot karma works on a percentage scale. Each "In" moderation adds 2 percent, and each negative moderation takes away 2 percent. (Funny appears to do nothing.) Only users with "Excellent" karma (over 50%) get to post with the bonus, which is essential to keep late-discussion comments visible. A post at 1 that's robo-modded down to -1 due to forbidden keywords takes away 4% karma.
People with a collection of paid iOS apps (Score:2)
You wouldn't put your companies future at the whim of some unstated rules, interpreted by spotty faced youths, yet you develop for iOS?
A lot of companies develop for video game consoles, whose policies are even stricter than Apple's, simply because video game consoles are the only popular devices for video gaming with multiple gamepads and a large monitor. I'm told set-top PCs are nowhere near popular enough to attract major developer attention.
I'll admit that this isn't quite as true of the iPhone and iPad as it is for consoles, but for three years, Apple's iPod touch had a monopoly on PDAs (3 to 5 inch Wi-Fi-only tablets). Until the fo
Re:Android (Score:5, Interesting)
While I agree with you in principal (the ability to run whatever I wish is one of the reasons I use Android and avoid iOS myself), in practice, what you describe is the same on both platforms.
If I'm selling a commercial app, even on Android, the built-in store is more or less the only avenue to making money. Google's store has rules [google.com] just like Apple's does.
Sure I can sell through Amazon or some of the other third parties instead. But this obviously greatly diminishes my potential market (and they will likely have similar rules too). What percent of Android users ever install a third party store? What percent are even aware they can do so?
If you're talking about commercially selling software to sideload, the problem is even worse. Most users have no idea this is possible. So in effect, if you're investing a lot of money into a project and Google says "no", the results aren't much different from Apple saying "no".
Confidential guidelines (Score:5, Insightful)
A leaked version of the App Store Review Guidelines already contains a ban on realistic violence.
But the real problem with the App Store Review Guidelines is that they're confidential, intended only for current developers, not for prospective developers. Say someone has been developing applications for PCs and Android devices as a hobby, and he wants to try developing a few applications for the iPhone or iPad. Before he spends over $1,000 on a Mac, an iPad, and a developer license, how can he be sure that Apple won't reject his applications' concepts?
Product Development is full of risk. (Score:3)
No amount of money (And $1k is nothing when talking product development), guarantees returns. So in this case, Apple rejecting the concepts is just another risk to add onto the list.
If it's the straw that breaks the camel's back, then pick a different platform to develop the concept for. Except every other platform carries it's own risks and benefits.
Adding this artificial risk (Score:3)
So in this case, Apple rejecting the concepts is just another risk to add onto the list.
How does adding this artificial risk benefit Apple in a way that just publishing the Guidelines does not?
VS Express, MinGW, JDK, and Eclipse w/o charge (Score:2)
PC and android device(s) just suddenly appear on the develope's desk when he/she wants to develop something for those platforms?
Yes, because he already owned a PC running Windows before starting to develop software. You might counter that one might have already owned a Mac, but a randomly selected x86 desktop or laptop computer is far more likely to have shipped with Windows than to be a Mac, and Macs can run Android SDK anyway. Entry-level Android tablets can be had for under $100, and brand-name ones from ASUS and Amazon for $200.
What if someone [...] now tries to develop other apps for Windows? The use still need to spend a lot of money (to buy Visual Studio) before start.
Visual Studio Express, MinGW, the JDK, and Eclipse are all distributed without charge. And even if you
When the rules are paywalled (Score:3)
So Apple is enforcing their rules which they've openly and clearly published
When I tried to view the rules on Apple.com, it asked me to log in with an Apple ID. Where should a prospective developer view these rules before spending four figures on a Mac, an iPad, and a developer license?
Re:When the rules are paywalled (Score:4, Informative)
So Apple is enforcing their rules which they've openly and clearly published
When I tried to view the rules on Apple.com, it asked me to log in with an Apple ID. Where should a prospective developer view these rules before spending four figures on a Mac, an iPad, and a developer license?
You can create your apple id for free, without using an ipad or mac.
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So Apple is enforcing their rules which they've openly and clearly published
When I tried to view the rules on Apple.com, it asked me to log in with an Apple ID. Where should a prospective developer view these rules before spending four figures on a Mac, an iPad, and a developer license?
You can create your apple id for free, without using an ipad or mac.
But, but, how can one bash Apple, then?
Having a free Apple ID is not enough (Score:4, Informative)
You can create your apple id for free
I just logged in with my Apple ID, and it told me "Sorry, you cannot access this page. The Apple ID you signed in with does not have permission to view this page."
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You can create your apple id for free
I just logged in with my Apple ID, and it told me "Sorry, you cannot access this page. The Apple ID you signed in with does not have permission to view this page."
You should be able to see the rules for free by joining the Apple Developer program. It's 100% free, and you can create apps and run them in the iOS simulator all day long. What costs money is being able to push to devices, and to be able to get content approved for the app store.
Currently develop with vs. plan to develop with (Score:3)
You should be able to see the rules for free by joining the Apple Developer program.
In the interest of fairness to iOS, I'm trying to build an accurate walkthrough to do so. So I logged in using my Apple ID, got "Sorry, you cannot access this page.", clicked Member Center, and then under "Professional Profile", I selected Games as the primary market, and got this:
It appears on
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You're making problems here. Just check one of the boxes that you plan to do, whether you will or not. Nobody will sue you about such a "lie".
I still get blocked (Score:2)
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Yes! So long as you openly and clearly publish your rules and hold everyone to them, your rules are above criticism!
That's why I openly and clearly publish that anyone entering my house will be bitchslapped if they present excessively objectionable or crude content. No more pesky assault and battery claims when I arbitrarily decide what is excessiv
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Of course they can. As can the proprietors of any store.
As for complete power over the content of a computing device, Try developing a game for the Wii that Nintendo finds objectionable. Selling it from ANY store.
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Let's be fair.
He was "just a fucking guy who marketed technology to the mundanes."
And the truth is that he was a genius at that. No, he wasn't "innovative", he sure as hell wasn't "a visionary," but he did succeed at selling what were "geek toys" to hipsters, who are always willing to pay a premium.
MP3s, tablets, smartphones: they were all around long before Apple made its "contributions" to the market[0] , and usually done better, but they never got sold to the "Any Key" crowd.
So let the Followers of Jobs