“Apple Computer Inc. never seemed too bothered about whether it made money. Worrying about earnings was for the bean counters at Microsoft Corp. and Dell Inc.; Apple was too busy being hip and sexy to fret about its bottom line. The runaway success of its iPod portable music player, though, seems to have given the company a renewed lust for life. After years in the wilderness as a niche maker of groovy computers and software for designers and musicians, Apple is starting to enjoy mainstream success,” Mark Gilbert writes for Bloomberg. “And, just like every other underground artist, Apple faces some tough decisions that will leave it open to accusations of selling out. As the Cupertino, California-based company adds television shows, films and sporting events to its iTunes Internet store, one entertainment category is notable by its absence — pornography.”
“t’s pretty obvious, if a little dismaying, that adding an adult-video section to the iTunes Web site would generate a ton of new visitors and additional revenue for Apple,” Gilbert writes. “It’s also obvious, though, that porn would sit badly with Apple’s self-image. One more thing, says Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs at the next marketing presentation, as the wall-sized video screen behind him fills with fleshy images of bump and grind. It’s hard to picture that scene; Apple is all about whiteness and purity, not smut.”
“Money, though, is the root of all evil, and there’s a lot of money to be made from the alleged evil of so-called adult entertainment. Porn is, literally, the Internet’s dirty big secret. There are 4.2 million pornographic Web sites, with 372 million porn pages handling 68 million search requests per day, according to TopTenReviews Inc., which analyzes software products and Internet services,” Gilbert writes. “The porn industry generates $57 billion in global revenue over the Web, the research firm says, with sales of adult videos contributing $20 billion.”
“Selling more than 42 million iPods in less than five years looks like success, until you realize that mobile-phone sales climbed to about 795 million handsets last year. IPod fans will pay top dollar for an Apple iPhone; CEO Jobs should provide one,” Gilbert writes. “The same applies to porn. A search on Google Inc. shows a bunch of companies willing to sell the content and software needed to view erotic material on an iPod. Apple may as well grab some of that revenue for itself.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Do you want to spend your life selling pornography to people or do you want to change the world?
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Yes Apple should sell porn.
And I’d like to work in the division the Scouts the content and signs the distributors.
Then I could attend the Annual Porn-con (or whatever it’s called) in Vaga$ when I staff the Apple booth.
S
Apple should NOT sell porn. This would destroy its image as a cool, family friendly company. What a stupid idea anyway…
The quality and style of porn that would be required…
..hasn’t been made yet.
AND piss off Morty…
Mark Gilbert is an idiot.
MaWo: ‘zipper’. As in, “Mark needs to be a little less concerned about Apple’s profits, and a little more diligent about keeping his zipper up.”
I miss Crystal…. this would be a perfect post for her to lose it over…
Pure nonsense. Selling porn would be profitable but it would hurt Apple’s image and it would be a PR nightmare.
It’ll turn you blind.
Not the porn itself, but staring so hard at an iPod screen
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If money is everything, then yes sell porn. Hell Apple should get into the military hardware business too. And alchohol!
But alas, money isn’t everything. Steve’s a family man, anyway. And he’s Zen. Porn always screws up Zen.
Hey, MDN, why does it have to be one way or the other?
Maybe selling porn would change the world.
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The REAL root of all evil: http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/C/can_you_believe_it/debates/rootofevil.html
It is a sad state “journalism” is in these days. Someone from a reputable media company can write about Apple should sell porn and get pay!!!! Amazing!!! Where is the standard? May be Dan Rather took it away with him!!! Any moron can write this kind of crap without any accountability what so ever. The pure purpose of this kind of crap writing is for hits and getting pay. Pity!!!
Please Apple sell porn!!
Please Apple sell porn!!
Please Apple sell porn!!
Please Apple sell porn!!
Please Apple sell porn!!
Please Apple sell porn!!
Please Apple sell porn!!
Please Apple sell porn!!
Please Apple sell porn!!
Please Apple sell porn!!
i’m tired of these infected files I’m getting online.
I have to SnapZ Pro X everything to make sure I’m getting a clean Quicktime file.
Apple STILL HASN”T FIXED THE META DATA EXPLOIT!!
Doubleclick on a porn file to run and our Mac’s get infected!
PLEASE APPLE SELL SAFE PORN NOW!!
Too late Mr. Gilbert. There’s already boobies on iTMS. My apologies to you iPrudes for the following link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewMovie?id=128716749&s=143441
Oh… My… GOD! Showing how people reproduce!! **(I feel faint)** You know, I’m MUCH more comfortable letting my children watch cop shows and military shows on TV.
TV violence is very tame compared to real life and I don’t have a problem with it like I do with the depiction of humans practicing their various mating rituals. With TV violence, someone stabs another JUST ONCE and the victim falls to the ground and dies within about 20 seconds. Nothing at all like the 30 or 40 stabs over several minutes it takes to slaughter a human (with all that blood and gore).
Yeserree, letting my kids watch several THOUSAND fictionalized, sanitized, homicides a year doesn’t get my panties in a bunch.
Being able to view naked human body parts… I feel fuuuuuny and embarrassed and I’m not feeling good about ANYTHING right now. I’m going to role around on the ground for a while, burn some candles, and watch for some stigmata marks to appear on my body.
In fact, I’m going to write my congressman about this. I want laws passed. I don’t give a damn whether others want to see SMUT!. Everyone will abide by MY value system (which is superior to yours). So bite me.
Hey, it isn’t a far-fetched idea. You can credit many of today’s networking protocols and Internet developments from instigation by the porn and gampling industries.
I Can See It Now. $1 For A Hand Job, $2 For Oral & $5 For Everything Else. $10 For Anything Weird…Like Anything That Involves Midgets.
Apple could license the software to serve porn
Apple will never serve porn directly
It is called TASTE
Some folks don’t even have a clue about it
Apple will sell that squeaky-clean thing that’s BETTER than porn. You know, that thing they’re keeping out in the warehouse. Nobody will need porn anymore….
Oooh, what a classy suggestion.
Sounds like it would fit right in with Apples sense of ethics and good taste…. not!
What a tacky idea.
MW center – Americans, the word is spelt centRE. And while I’m at it, coloUr, socialiSe, centimetRE, etc, etc…
Normally I don’t get confrontational or respond to flamebait, because I’m not comfortable with the inherent anonymity of the internet and its tendency to make people say things they’d never have the guts to say face-to-face; and I don’t want to be a person like that. However, the sheer inanity of attacking regional/political spelling differences has pushed me over the edge.
Stuart, you’re typing your correctly-spelled words on a computer and OS designed in California (or, alternately, in Texas and Washington state), on a website run and hosted in America, on a worldwide networking system that originated as the U.S. government’s ARPAnet, whose foundation was designed by BB&N in Cambridge, Massachusetts. When your country invents its own version of each of these things, you can spell words any way you want.
And let’s not even get started on those French. As Steve Martin said, they have a different word for <i>everything.<>
Follower
But how would those things have been invented without the use of OUR language?
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No SHIT Follower. Well done. Tell Stuart “he ain’t been learned good American English”.
I don’t know why you even responded to Stuart. I think there’s a 90% chance he’s just baiting people (a sign he’s got small-man syndrome and gets his jollies being provocative), or he’s a retard.
“Actually, religion is the root of all evil.”
You got that right. Even if you were just kidding.
Brother George is right…
In the Bullshit Department, a businessman can’t hold a candle to a clergyman. ‘Cause I gotta tell you the truth, folks. When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims: religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told.
Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man — living in the sky — who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ’til the end of time!
But He loves you.
He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He’s all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can’t handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good bullshit story. Holy Shit!
— George Carlin Politically Incorrect, May 29, 1997
Oh please… you could make this argument with any entertainment-related company.
Disney should sell porn.
Google should sell porn.
Apple should sell porn.
Just because it’s possible, it does not mean it’s a good idea.
Porn
Good idea. Make it an iPhone with vibrator attachment.
God! Did everyone’s brains migrate to their crotch and stay there?