7 ms·
Anti-iPhone iPhone game makes it past Apple's review process
- latch 15y agoI think that game will make a tidy profit given the attention it's about to get. I'm have absolutely no idea if Apple is going to pull it. I wouldn't be surprised either way, yet I think whatever happens, I'll be surprised.
- gnoupi 15y agoIn a way, why would they? It's an iPhone game, meaning that Apple earns money from each game sold. Also, it is delivered to people who obviously own an iPhone already. So I doubt it's really going to hurt iPhone sales or something.
- dan1234 15y agoIt's a bit misleading to say this is an Anti-iPhone game when it's drawing attention to how most electrical items are made. Also, I'd imagine Apple would've been slammed for rejecting an app which claims to be donating proceeds to charity so it'd be less controversial to let it through.
- latch 15y agonice catch re-donation..don't see that unless you click "more".
- naz 15y agoThe app's creators describe it as anti-iPhone http://www.yeslab.org/project/phone-story http://www.yeslab.org/project/phone-story
- rmc 15y agoApple would be silly to either ban it now, or never to have approved it, since it would cause the Streisand effect.
- Batsu 15y agoThis really wouldn't be the first time.
- jinushaun 15y agoI'm assuming you didn't see the screenshot of the "Pear" store. Or the factory workers jumping off the building.
- johnbatch 15y agoI thought Apple's policy was to reject all apps that claim to donate proceeds to charity. "You cannot say anywhere in the application description, support materials, or the application itself that some or all of the proceeds will go to any given charity" http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/01/app-store-lessons-developing-charitably.ars http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/01/app-store-lessons-...
- kahawe 15y ago> http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/01/app-store-lessons-.. http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/01/app-store-lessons-.... "Published 2 years ago" And I think in all fairness, one should add that from that article it looks like this comes down to certain accounting requirements and regulations that Apple was not able to meet (at least back then) - not from them not wanting anyone to give to charity.
- 0x12 15y ago> Also, I'd imagine Apple would've been slammed for rejecting an app which claims to be donating proceeds to charity so it'd be less controversial to let it through. You have a front-row seat to that now, the app has been pulled. I'm sure they'll use the 'donating proceeds to charity' as the reason why they pulled it.
- elithrar 15y agoThe [Foxcon] workers jumping off the building in the screenshots is extremely tasteless.
- muraiki 15y agoI think that's the point. This app wasn't made to make people feel good and have a fun time playing a game. It's to alert them to the consequences of their economic decisions. By making a game of the sad reality of overworked factory workers committing suicide, it draws attention to what it is that allows us to play games on this device. Thus there is a connection established between game and death.
- philwelch 15y agoSetting aside the possibility that some workplace suicides are just suicides and not an artifact of capitalist oppression, sure. By that standard, there should be postage stamps emblazoned with the image of a disgruntled postal worker shooting his coworkers to death, just so we as consumers know what's at stake when we send a letter.
- muraiki 15y agoYes, but this game isn't just about random workplace suicides. It's about workplace suicides in the context of manufacturing phones. It's about the specific plant that manufactures these phones. That context is important to understanding the game, and taken outside of that context, yes it would be absurd.
- robin_reala 15y agoDidn’t someone run the numbers and find that the number of suicides / head at Foxconn was significantly lower than the number of suicides / head for the general population in that region?
- cube13 15y ago
- mikecaron 15y agoI wrote a letter to Tim Cook about this (http://mrcaron.tumblr.com/post/10163623845/open-letter-to-tim-cook-ceo-apple-inc http://mrcaron.tumblr.com/post/10163623845/open-letter-to-ti...), hoping to spread the love.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- heysomeguythere 15y agohttp://www.apple.com/recycling/ http://www.apple.com/recycling/ Looks like Apple already implemented everything you asked for.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- zdw 15y agoOne big point - Apple supports it's products longer than the rest of the industry, thus they don't end up in landfills as quickly. For example: - The original iPhone was released in June of 2007, and had the newest iOS (3.x) available until the release of iOS 4 in June 2010. - The iPhone 3GS was released in June of 2009, and is still getting OS updates, even to iOS 5 released later this year. How many Android phones are obsolete in 6 months, never receiving another software update? The impetus to upgrade and chuck the old phone is much higher in their case as obsolescence starts nearly immediately because the manufacturers only make money on the hardware itself. You'll likely get at least 3 years of OS updates out of Apple, whereas you might get one if you're lucky and the manufacturer still likes the product with Android.
- windsurfer 15y agoThis is a manufacturer issue. You can still install the latest android on the first official Android phone (HTC Dream).
- zdw 15y agoHow many non-geek people sideload? On how many phones is it impossible to do so because of a locked bootloader or other technological impediment? I do agree that it's a manufacturer issue - specifically with a revenue model that give no reward for staying up to date (which is also horrible for device security...).
- windsurfer 15y agoSo what if non-geeks can't upgrade? It doesn't matter how skilled or un-skilled you are. You can take the G1 to a shop and get them to upgrade it for you. You can't take an iPhone and do the same thing.
- technoslut 15y agoDoes it really matter? The upgrade would be pointless. Any first generation iPhone or Android device couldn't run the newest version of the OS well.
- sambeau 15y agoI'm not surprised that this got through as it is more likely to offend Apple than a user. Apple's control of the App Store is not without good reason. It seeks to protect users (and their children) from malware, pornography and offence (and protect Apple from bad publicity and legal action by selling such things to its users). While an overzealous employee might take it onto themselves to try to protect Apple from criticism in this way: it is not Apple policy to do so. Note also that Apple has always reacted sensibly to any accusations of abuse and/or suicide in it's supplier's factories. Plus, Foxconn's suicide rate is far below both China's and the US's rate for a similar demographic.
- w1ntermute 15y ago> It seeks to protect users (and their children) from malware, pornography and offence (and protect Apple from bad publicity and legal action by selling such things to its users). Do people really still buy this line? If they're trying to protect users and their children from "malware, pornography and offence," shouldn't they be blocking those things in the iPhone web browser as well? And what about on the Mac? All those things should be blocked on there as well.
- jccc 15y agoApple doesn't sell Web sites through Safari. It does sell apps through the App Store. There's quite a bit of difference in responsibility when money changes hands.
- w1ntermute 15y ago> Apple doesn't sell Web sites through Safari. It does sell apps through the App Store. > There's quite a bit of difference in responsibility when money changes hands. So if apps are free, it should be OK, right? Because there's no implied responsibility.
- sambeau 15y agoDo people really still buy this line? What line? Why else would they do it? The control that they over the iOS platform has provided the first truly safe computing environment. This is, in my opinion, more important to its long-term success than the innovative user interface. This is the part that other companies have so-far failed to copy. Apple don't seek control for it's own sake—it's a lot of work and very expensive—which is why other companies balk at it.
- jvc26 15y agoI'm not convinced the game is 'anti-iPhone', isn't the objective to raise greater awareness of some of the working conditions of those involved in the manufacture of smartphones (e.g. those at FoxConn etc.), and to donate money to causes who support such workers.
- hugh3 15y agoto donate money to causes who support such workers You mean... by buying more iPhones?
- dshep 15y agoThere's a lot more detail here... Pretty interesting http://www.phonestory.org/ http://www.phonestory.org/
- avgarrison 15y agoTechnically, it's not a game, since it is listed in the Education category.
- joeyespo 15y agoLooks like it was taken down now.
- shiftpgdn 15y agoIt looks like it has already been pulled off of the App store.
- marklittlewood 15y agoThanks goodness I saved some screenshot! It seems to have disappeared from the App stores. I love how this has turned almost immediately into a bunch of Apple Fan Boyz talking about Apple. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2991512 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2991512
- k0mplex 15y agoApple just took it down - here's a screenshot of what it was http://i.imgur.com/hnCMx.jpg http://i.imgur.com/hnCMx.jpg
- kennywinker 15y agoLink broken... looks like it's been pulled
- hbianchi 15y agoI was lucky and bought it right when I saw this post. I think is thought provoking and yes, controversial. I shared it with my 11 year old daughter and we had a conversation about life cycle of our electronics. I say anything that gets people to talk about issues is good. But censorship - a la app store- is not good. Hope they put it on Cydia at least.
- JoshTriplett 15y agoWhen linking to pages in the iTunes store, please, link to pages that work for people who don't have iTunes. Such pages exist; see, for instance, the pages reachable from http://itunes.apple.com/us/browse http://itunes.apple.com/us/browse .
- marklittlewood 15y agoThe links have been removed by Apple. You can see the screenshots and app description here though. http://thebln.com/2011/09/did-apple-find-a-sick-sense-of-humour-or-did-they-just-lose-control-of-itunes/ http://thebln.com/2011/09/did-apple-find-a-sick-sense-of-hum...
- sambeau 15y agoNow banned http://phonestory.org/banned.html http://phonestory.org/banned.html