Apple Removes More Than 5000 "Overtly Sexual" iPhone Apps

Apple has quietly proceeded to what can only be qualified as a massive cull as thousands of applications targeting an adult audience have been unceremoniously removed from the App store, depriving millions of customers of their rights to consume adult content.

AppExplorer reports that there are currently just under 156,000 apps on the App store out of which only 46, contain the word "boobs", down from more than 5,000 last week. That said, you can still find loads of apps with containing the words "bikini" (288 in all) or "sexy" (1327 in all).

Phil Schiller, the man at Apple in charge of marketing worldwide, had to come forward to explain why Apple decided to get rid of what it calls apps with "very objectionable content."

He told the New York Times that "It came to the point where we were getting customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see".

Still, Schiller had a hard time to defend the likes of Sports Illustrated or Playboy which carry the same pictures of scantily-clad, well endowed women. He argued that they were well known companies that have previously published content in a well-accepted format.

Some observers are saying that the move might be linked with Apple's forthcoming move to get the App store in the US educational market, courtesy of the iPad, one which might, in the eyes of Apple be worth more than the adult market.