iSealClub smacked by Apple’s ban hammer
You know, it’s gotten to the point where reporting the latest apps to be banned by Apple and it’s dark overlord is pointless. It happens all the time, and often for no good reason. This time it’s a Newfoundland app maker and his variation on Whack-A-Mole, iSealClub. The main reasons I’m pointing this one out is I’ve eaten seal – not much cuppa tea but hey – and that it’s been mis-characterized in the press…
Sure, Apple banned our Be Nice to Bunnies app after catching a glimpse of sexy Stephanie Pratt in the buff, but PETA doesn’t hold it against Steve Jobs. In fact, we think that Jobs and the rest of the Apple crew are pretty great after learning that the App Store said “no way” to an app called iSealClub—a game in which users wield a metal-tipped club and earn points by bashing seals to death. [from PETA, where else?]
Since iSealClub is never going to see the light of the AppStore, maybe the developer could take a look at tweaking the graphics. Instead of hitting seals with a club, he could replace the seals with app icons, and the club with a hammer held by a black-sweatered arm… “Whack-An-App” anyone?
Apparently ridiculing public figures is too narrow. Now just satirical apps in general are a problem for Apple. I’ve said it before, but it’s becoming more and more obvious. Apple wants you to live in an irony-free zone.
Think about it. How long can Apple (or anyone) remain ‘cool’ while outlawing *irony*? Irony is the epitome of cool. Apple is basically trading their previously cool image for a huge amount of distribution control. It’s going to cost them the whole thing.
That’s the one solace we can take from all this. Sink or swim for the iPad, within five years Apple is going to be widely considered possibly the uncoolest company on the planet. It’s all but inevitable now.