NIN's Reznor Blasts Apple For App Store Approval Idiocy

Trent Reznor is angry.  Anybody who has listened to the music of Nine Inch Nails likely knows that already, but right now he's specifically angry at Apple and their approval process for the iPhone App Store.  Turns out, while Apple are happy to sell copies of NIN's album The Downward Spiral on iTunes, complete with graphic language, they're not so happy when the song of the same name is played through the band's app. Reznor's take – with some NSFW language – after the cut

"You can buy The Downward Fucking Spiral on iTunes, but you can't allow an iPhone app that may have a song with a bad word somewhere in it. Geez, what if someone in the forum in our app says FUCK or CUNT? I suppose that also falls into indecent material. Hey Apple, I just got some SPAM about fucking hot asian teens THROUGH YOUR MAIL PROGRAM. I just saw two guys having explicit anal sex right there in Safari! On my iPhone!

Come on Apple, think your policies through and for fuck's sake get your app approval scenario together" Trent Reznor, NIN

Fans of the band are now, ironically, leaving poor feedback on the program, because Apple are dragging their feet updating the App Store with the latest version submitted.  NIN's developer team even went so far as to pull the objectionable song from their servers, preventing any version of the software from accessing it, but there's still no word from Apple.

It's frustrating to NIN and Reznor – plus their fans, of course – but it also says a lot about Apple's approval process and the work still needed to streamline it.  Reznor still loves Apple – "The iPhone is THE most elegant, modern smartphone at this point in time and it's perfect for what we want to do with the NIN app – except for the ludicrous approval process, and that's what I want to draw attention to" – but when content in their App Store is not only available online but through their own music store, there's something not quite right.

[via TechCrunch]