It’s tempting, in these cases, to look on Apple as a sort of mother figure. They keep the apps in the app store wholesome, keep you from growing hair on your palms, and prevent you from being exposed to anything that might be controversial or fun on any terms but theirs. Actually, I’m going to give into the temptation – Apple takes a smothering mother role to the iPhone, and rejecting an app like iSinglePayer is more evidence of that.
I remember writing up Election ‘08 and thinking wow, this is great, advocacy on a mobile phone. Of course, that app was more impartial, but iSinglePayer is hardly “charged.” It’s attempting to spread information the author thinks is important, and might be useful if you’re in a political argument with a friend. “Here, I’ve got the statistics right on my phone.” Is that too much for mom to handle?
Obviously they don’t want to be embroiled in the health care debate. That’s totally reasonable; neither do I, at least in any professional capacity. But I think that given Apple’s tagline of “Think Different” and their penchant for promoting individuality and freedom, they’d rather allow both sides to have their own app than censor them both. After all, the reason people bought iPhones in the first place was to stay connected with the things that matter to them.
Apple, sometimes love means letting go.
Guess we’ll have to stick to the email forwards for accurate information.
Its unfortunate that Apple is choosing to not support public education and open political debate by allowing such applications that can pass along information for the public. It makes sense that they control look and feel of applications, but to control content makes them a self appointed censor.
A person advocating his/her political agenda is not neccessarly providing a service or unbiased viewpoint. Therefore, how can this be regarded as ‘education’? This is self-serving, shrill partisanship that supports a viewpoint.
I have two reference applications on my I-phone; one is an unabridged dictionary and the other is the US constituition. BTW- according to my US constituition, my government can’t penalize me for not having health insurance.
What the h is the difference betwee this: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/iphone
and iSinglePayer?
Fine if you want to reject for “political’ness” but come on now… what happened to all of the Apple HIG and developer ranting about CONSISTENCY.
And by the way, about 2 weeks ago, Apple had to sit in front of the FCC and tell the FCC just PRECISELY what their qualifications were for what gets into the app library and what doesn’t and there was NOTHING about political anything in those transcripts. The only content-specific mention re qualifications they stated to the FCC were re porn and child-porn specifically.
So… let’s get real here. It’s censorship. Period. And Al Gore should be ASHAMED!!!
Uh Devin, Election08 the advocacy app – uhm… yeah, you forgot about the Obama08 app didn’t you (see my post above).
Good point, I wasn’t aware of that one. I happened to have written up Election08 so it came to mind, but thanks for adding that in.
I wonder if Apple would approve a version of this app that, in addition to showing the supposed “cost savings” of a single-payer health-care system, would show the actual consequences of having such a system…namely, a massive government bureaucracy taking over health care, with all the cost inefficiencies and overhead thereof, and the new taxes required to fund such a bureaucracy (and, yes, President Obama, a requirement to either buy health insurance or pay a stiff fine for not having it is a “tax,” no matter what you choose to call it), and, ultimately, this same government bureaucracy making decisions that decide who lives and who dies. (Sarah Palin called them as she saw them, in calling them “death panels,” but they won’t call them that…and they won’t necessarily start out as “death panels.” Not at first. But by the time they become de facto “death panels,” it’ll be far too late to do anything about them.)
Of course, Apple would probably reject that hypothetical app for being too “politically charged” as well. At least they’d be being fair about it. If they let iSinglePayer through while blocking the hypothetical app I described…well, then I’d express more concern.
Hi Erbo,
That wouldn’t be a very fun app. Can’t see any reason why it would be banned though.
It is a simple fact that every country using a single payer system spends LESS per capita on said system than we do on ours.
But let’s not let facts get in the way of a strawman argument. Oh…I see you brought up death panels. I guess it’s too late to have a rational discussion with you.
And if you think said single-payer system is actually a good idea…you need to talk to my ex-wife, currently in Finland and struggling with getting even semi-adequate care out of their socialized medicine system. And paying through the nose for it, in terms of high taxes on everything.
But I guess you’re not willing to listen to someone who has actual experience living under the kind of system you’d force on ever American.
I love it!!!
I’m an Apple fan, but like many haters out there, I find this crap annoying. Not cool.
maybe if they added a fart button to the app?
HOW DARE YOU!
Regarding the comparisons to the Obama ‘08 application, I think the questions are valid. There is no functionality in the iSinglePayer application that wasn’t in the Obama ‘08 application.
Here is my breakdown comparison:
http://www.cloudfour.com/665/apple-rejects-health-care-reform-app-for-being-politically-charged/
(FWIW, I was one of the developers of the Obama ‘08 for iPhone application)
I wrote last week about Apple’s position on political discourse and how I found it more troubling than Google Voice. This is just the latest incident of this type of censorship.
http://www.cloudfour.com/625/freedom-time-google-voice-letter-fcc/
Thanks for chiming in. Hopefully we’ll hear more about this kind of thing and the approval process soon.
I suspect that something like the Obama app might have a hard time getting through at this point in time.
Its funny. When I first read that I thought it said Slingblade player and I was thinking – didn’t Apple already reject that one already…
Good point. I got it… Where can get that app?
iCanadaCare is a better app. You input what kind of sickness you have or if you need surgery then it tells you how many months you have to wait before seeing a doctor. You get a bonus point if you survive until then. Really a fun way to… kill time.
Apple goddammit, this is even worse than Google Voice! Censorship is bad, bad apple.
If Apple wants to stay relevant they should allow BOTH sides to create apps for all sort of discussions. Who knows, you could vote referenda on your iPhone in the future. That would be an improvement for citizen governance.
On the health care issue: I kinda like healthcare over here. It’s socialized (Americans, do not fear. We are very free here ;)
Really, Americans, just ask your ambassadors from all over the world about their experience in other countries. I’m not saying Belgium has the best system (it’s expensive) but from what I heard from USA it’s terrible that companies are making profits on health care. Health care is not a business issue, IMHO. It’s something from the people. And the government = the people. We can vote for our government. We can’t vote for business leaders.
And Americans, please don’t fear the ‘death panels’. That’s just a ridiculous argument from morons like Sarah Palin.
I’m happy to tell you Americans, that Belgians now love America again! It used to be very different a few years ago. But you have an intelligent president again, and it completely changes the image of America. Thanks for voting for this guy.
Belgian boy- Do you own a I-phone? Obviously you don’t. I own both an I-phone and a Windows mobile device. The difference? The I-phone applications have content quality beyond anything I can get for Windows Mobile. Why should I load some POS on my phone that will have a bunch of lying misinformation?
Belgian boy- One last thought, we American’s enjoy our freedoms and self reliance. Therefore, we don’t like our government wiping our own asses or forcing overpriced socialized health carre down our throuts. Last, until you are willing to work for free, I don’t see a problem with a company making money.
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