An uncensored version of Playboy is now available for the iPad and prudish Apple can do nothing to stop it being distributed.
Instead of being available via the Apple App Store the pin up magazine has been developed as an iPad-optimised Web app, which means it doesn’t have to abide by the App Store’s rules or share subscription revenue with Apple.
Playboy who were stopped from distributing the global soft porn magazine via offical Apple channels, had little choice but to go the route of a Web app with its uncensored iPad offering.
While Playboy does have an app in the App Store, it doesn’t offer anything near the pure raunch of the magzines content, because of restrictions against nudity and pornography in the App Store guidelines, it never could. But there are advantages to Playboy’s approach that extend beyond sidestepping the censors.
BusinessWeek said that PLayboy doesn’t have to deal with Apple’s in-app subscription system, or the tithes the company expects from publishers in exchange for using it, for instance.
The $8 monthly subscription fee that Playboy charges for access to its Web app goes directly to its bottom line without having to take out a 30-percent cut for Apple.
Playboy also gets complete control over its relationship with the consumer. When you fill out your valuable personal info at sign-up, Playboy gets instant access to that info, without Apple’s permissions dialog getting in the way.
