If you haven’t heard, Apple’s diving headfirst into the hypocrisy pool these days: Apple, There’s Pornography On My iPhone. The App Is Called Safari. You Made It.
In short: Apple recently dumped a whole bunch of ’sexual’ applications out of the AppStore - despite their parental-ratings system, despite the fact they’re featuring Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit 2010 app. And the Playboy app. And despite the fact the Internet at large - sex included - is available through this little app called Safari…
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On to the good stuff. Check out this quote:
Of course this sad shiny-headed onanist [Michael Wolff] can’t just admit that he’s pissed about the fact that we’ve ruined his beat-off hobby, so instead he launches into a screed about how Apple is so controlling. Because what? Because we run a store and decide what stuff we’re going to sell in our store? Well, guilty as charged, Sir Flogs-A-Lot. I run a store, and I choose what to put on the shelves. This is an outrage? Stores sell what they want to sell. Do you walk into Macy’s and start screaming because they don’t sell Astro-Glide and Fleshlights next to the men’s shoes? ….
– FakeSteveJobs (emphasis mine)
Context Matters.
I’m a huge, huge fan of FSJ, though i wish he bit as loud as he barks (Read: Calling off Operation Chokehold). Sometimes I read for the comedic value (hookah, anyone?) and sometimes - like here - he sees something profound. I’ll say it again:
Context.
Apple is all about proprietary: proprietary software built for in-house hardware, pristine interfaces that often defy (ignore?) the laws of customer success. (Copy/Paste? Nobody really needs that…)
Furthermore, Jobs’ products have earned him a rabid fanbase; people who really, truly like and care about the product, and who - for the most part - have genuine loyalty to his company. Seriously: who waits three days in the snow to buy a $400 telephone?
However, with this skin fiasco, Jobs has made two serious contextual/conceptual mistakes, which will come back to haunt him. Here’s what he’s missed:
1. The market has changed. Users today (especially GenY) aren’t passive fanatics. If they support a cause, they create a Facebook page and get their friends to join. If they (we) buy a new gadget, we talk about it online. And if we’re software engineers, if we love a product we want to make it better.
You know that already, just like you know this: If we try to contribute, and feel that - as a group - we’re not getting listened to, we’ll spam our known universe with our frustration. And listen to other people’s spam. And make decisions based on said spam.*
This is not a stretch - in any way - for a group of people who spent highschool updating their every move on IRC, IM, Chat rooms, and ubiquitous two-toned blogs.
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This brings me to point number two: Like it or not,
2. Jobs is running a platform, not a store. This goes back to FakeSteve’s original post - the bolded part. Does Jobs see the AppStore as a kind of glorified BestBuy? I didn’t see any porn - even the artistic variety - at BestBuy last time I was there.** This would explain the Swimsuit-issue-vs-porn-app thing. AppStore Deciderator asks: Would they sell this at walMart? If the answer’s yes, go for it. If not, just say no.
Reality Check: Jobs is running a platform. He’s advertised it as a platform. He’s turned many of his most fanatic users into a fanatic developer base. He’s made a lot of money for a lot of people. *** … it’s pretty hard (i’ll go with almost impossible) to go back to Just A Store after this.
Jobs has a problem. He’s got a bunch of users who expect to be listened to, who conceptualize the AppStore as a platform. In the user’s (read: buyer’s) context, Apple’s created an environment meant to be navigated - created, controlled, and experienced - by Us.
In Job’s context, we’re his from the time we type “iphone AppStore” into our Safari search engine.
Even if we’re suppliers.
It’s a context conflict! … hence all the bad publicity.
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Where does this leave us?
- For now, it tells us Jobs - despite his incredible talents - doesn’t get it at a gut level. I just don’t get it when people at work don’t want to collaborate. (Seeing Red is a better way to put it, actually). Maybe there’s something about the contribute/collaborate world that just doesn’t make sense for Jobs.
- It tells us Apple has to make a choice: Collaboration, or In-House? It can’t sit on the fence forever without looking badly indecisive. Google’s less organized, Microsoft is less disciplined - but they’ll catch up to Apple in the end. Suing for patent infringement only delays the inevitable.
- Finally, it demonstrates how much context matters; not just how you see it, but how everyone else does, too. In a hyperconnected world, consumer empathy is more important than ever.
* On a related note: This is why progressivism has a long future in US politics; the upcoming generation is very comfortable with sharing, groupthink, and a kind of diffuse empathy. We’re more tuned in to the group mind than any generation before us. We’ll make decisions in a different paradigm - now, in buying. In the future: in politics. And the trend points upward.
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** … not that I was looking for porn in BestBuy. Or anything.
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*** Google “Make a million dollars iphone app” for more on this - although imho the market’s about tapped out. New money’s in ipad applications appealing to the Baby Boomer set. But I digress.

















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