Joost comes to iPhone, bringing nudity with it

Steve Jobs said “porn” was one of the things Apple was going to keep off the iPhone. An empty promise, of course, because not only did they include a web browser, but users are also free to load their own movies and pictures on it.

The only area in which Apple could exert this control is on the applications, where Apple gets to vet every single program before it gets to the iPhone.

Which is what makes Joost so odd. Because not only does the streaming video app crash a lot and feature a terrible user interface, it also has porn. Right there, on the “popular” video section, in a video entitled “Shirt Off – Tropical Honeys.” And that’s a pretty accurate description.

Granted, this is the softest of the soft core, but it’s definitely something that HBO would show “only…at night,” as we used to say. Add to that the fact that Joost is a free application to download, and you don’t have to register or so much as click an age verification link. Perhaps they’re relying on the sheer bugginess of the application to keep people away.

I’m not sure why Jobs made the claim that Apple would (or could) keep porn off the iPhone, except as a PR move to calm jittery parents. Getting images of people in states of undress is as easy as clapping your hands and wishing—in fact, it’s avoiding nudity that’s hard. It’s like saying you’re going to keep “orange” off the iPhone. A fact that Apple is going to have to acknowledge.