The hung media: why Apple gets to call the shots in this coalition *May not contain nudity*

Fascinating discussions going on at the moment about the iPad and its implications for the distribution of media content.

Apologies for the tenuous election link – but it is ironic that the media is thinking about a distribution-sharing deal with Apple and is finding that like David Cameron and Gordon Brown whoever Labour get as their boss, things aren’t always that simple.

So is this device the saviour of the media or a chance for Apple to take over the fanboy/girl/tech consumer world?

On one hand, we have the legendary Jakob Nielsen telling us about the implications of the interface and what that means for anyone designing content and on the other there’s a running conversation about self-censorship by the media in order to get your content in the Apple Store.

Bruce Tognazzini, of the Nielsen Norman Group, believes Apple’s stance is similar to printers telling the media what can go on their product

At this point, tens of millions of people are living under significant press restrictions engineered by Apple and Steven P. Jobs.

Uniquely, Apple, in this case, is not even the press. It is the paper company. If the press wants to print its material on Apple’s fine, white vellum, it will do it Apple’s way. And the press, as Dan Gillmor has elsewhere pointed out, is stampeding to do just that, handing over traditional freedoms it normally guards so zealously in the process.

Apple’s rules for its App store, changed back in February after complaints about content. But interestingly the implications of this are that it might not just be those wanting to sell us skin apps, or sex games, that get hit.

There’s an interesting post on Shiny Shiny about the implications Apple’s no-nipples policy means fashion mags are censoring their iPad editions

It’s even more ironic because the iPad has been billed as the saviour of the magazine industry and also given Apple’s reputation as a mainstay of the creative industries.

Side note: have a look at the list of “rude” apps that haven’t been banned – including Playboy

And there was an interesting list of “conditions for acceptance” published on the Techcrunch about the rules introduced in February

1. No images of women in bikinis (Ice skating tights are not OK either)

2. No images of men in bikinis! (I didn’t ask about Ice Skating tights for men)

3. No skin (he seriously said this) (I asked if a Burqa was OK, and the Apple guy got angry)

4. No silhouettes that indicate that Wobble can be used for wobbling boobs (yes – I am serious, we have to remove the silhouette in this pic)

5. No sexual connotations or innuendo: boobs, babes, booty, sex – all banned

6. Nothing that can be sexually arousing!! (I doubt many people could get aroused with the pic above but those puritanical guys at Apple must get off on pretty mundane things to find Wobble “overtly sexual!)

7. No apps will be approved that in any way imply sexual content (not sure how Playboy is still in the store, but …)

So, still some way to go before we know if this coalition will really be as big as some people believe it will be.

BTW, anyone know if Hollywood has to do the “no nips and bits” thing with its movies that are distributed via iTunes?