Apple blocks App Store approval for Android magazine
by Steven Mostyn - Nov 29 2010, 06:43
Apple drops the hammer on Android Magasinet. Image: Apple.
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Apple Inc., clearly keen on preserving the strength of the iOS software powering its iPhone and iPad devices, has refused App Store entry to a magazine application that focuses on a rival mobile operating system.
The app in question belongs to Danish company Mediaprovider and, according to industry watchers at Media Watch, has been rejected because it contains exclusive content boosting the exposure of Google’s popular Android platform.
In defending the Android Magasinet, Brian Dixen of Mediaproviders suggested Apple is perhaps being heavy-handed with its selection process, which borders on censorship as Jobs and Co. strive to keep potentially conflicting creations out of the spotlight.
“It’s funny really because I don’t think we would sell many magazines on Android through [the] Apple App Store,” he said. “But the question is where this is going.”
Supporting that notion, Dixen added that other Mediaproviders software apps have passed through Apple’s approvals process without incident, one of which just happens to be the distinctly Apple-centric iPhone Magasinet.
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