[Community] How many restrictions must happen until users buy a free phone?

[Sven]

Hello,

as we all know, Apple and Google are not only spying their users, but 
also are bossing them around. Here's one more up-to-date example:

Nearly unnoticed by "common" people, within the last few months Apple as 
well as Google heavily tightened their prude acting against gay 
communities. While already since from the beginning apps of gay social 
networks like Gayromeo (1.534 million members) have been rejected from 
Apple's and Google's app stores if they dared to present all pictures 
from their members, because many of them are showing openly what they 
will offer you in bed, now these apps will already be rejected if they 
dare to show any naked skin except face and hands.

Gayromeo now took this as motive to initiate a poll under their users. 
The main question was: Is this still acceptable for us? Or did Apple and 
Google now step over a red line that must have consequences? And if yes, 
which?

Nearly 10% of the members gave a vote (143,000). For us users of a free 
smartphone (GTA04) the result of the poll is quite interesting at least 
under three aspects:

a) It's fact that apps are something that you don't need for Gayromeo, 
because since a long time they already offer a version of their web site 
that has been optimized for mobile phones (https://m.gayromeo.com). So 
you can use your ordinary web browser instead for uncensored access. But 
how many members will really swerve this way?

b) It's fact that you're not dependent on Google's Android app store at 
all. You can download your apps from anywhere in the net without any 
restrictions. But how many users rather will really accept a censored 
app out of Google's Android app store instead of simply download an 
uncensored one from anywhere else?

In order to repeat in clear words, because freedom loving people like us 
presumably will only shake their heads heavily: Gayromeo really asked if 
*in*the*future* (!) they should offer a uncensored app 
*on*their*own*website* instead of offering a censored one within 
Google's store *as*they*currently*do* !!!

c) If users of Apple's iPhone decide that they will not accept the new 
restrictions but still want to use an app, they have to recognize that 
the only possibility they have is to throw away their iPhone and to use 
a more brainy one instead. But will they really perform this step?

You'll find the answers here:
https://www.planetromeo.com/blog/data/2013/appsurvey/AppSurvey-EN.pdf

Very very interesting, although it's a pity that the at least one vote 
for GTA04 as phone and QtMoko v55 as OS obviously got down under within 
the diagrams...  ;-))

And people who might find it right to censor pictures should consider 
that Apple already started to censor text, i.e. mail. See:
http://www.macworld.co.uk/mac/news/?newsid=3432561

Of course Apple's alibi today are children (please remember that 
premature infants already had been misused in the USA in order to 
legitimate the war against Iraq), but what's their attitude to workers' 
councils and to trade unions for example? Or particularly to freely 
usable phones from independent manufacturers like GTA04? Anyone who will 
really believe that this will not also be automatically censored in the 
future?

Best regards
    Sven