Although it's not what I would call a frequent topic of discussion here on Infinite Loop, the subject of pornography and adult material does pop up from time to time, usually when someone mysteriously receives an iPod that's full of the stuff. Over the years, there has always been a bit of discussion about the possibility of Apple offering pornography on the iTunes Store. The company tends to take a fairly hard line on adult material, though, and has stated that adult content won't be allowed on the App Store. The device still has a big screen and a full-fledged browser, causing Time to suggest that the launch of the iPhone 3G will lead to a rise in the amount of phone-oriented pornography.
Time claims that previous phone porn offerings haven't amounted to much more than some steamy wallpapers and text messages (Editor's note: however, those of us who have had video-capable iPods over the last several years know, uh, otherwise). But when you combine a browser like Mobile Safari with a device that now opens videos faster, smut surfers can view video clips from the Internet, as well as all the non-mobile sites they're used to, making the iPhone the "porn-friendliest phone." Speaking of mobile sites, it turns out that iPhone-optimized adult sites are already operating, and searches for "iPhone porn" have apparently become much more frequent. Some of the more... creative iPhone owners have even come up with novel ways of adding iPhone interactivity to adult material (involving multi-touch manipulation of clothing).
The worldwide availability of the iPhone 3G could also lead more carriers to offer adult content to their users. Some European carriers already offer this type of material, and Canadian carrier Telus ran an experimental program, so getting pornographic content from Vodafone or T-Mobile may be the next step in smartphone-centric services. Fortunately, the iPhone 2.0 firmware will include quite a few parental controls, presumably to limit access to adult sites. With the absence of adult App Store applications and some parental controls, I suspect pornographic applications will only be available to the folks who try really hard to get them on their devices. Just don't let people search for "iPhone porn" on your phone (and definitely don't let them scroll more than halfway down the results page), and I think the plethora of iPhone porn that's supposedly coming will be limited to those who want it.
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