Would iTunes Ever Sell Porn?

But that was then; this is now. And right now, with iTV shipping, porn could make Apple some serious money.

Why hasn’t it happened, you ask? Well, it most definitely isn’t because Apple is taking the “moral high ground” on the issue. Rest assured, if they thought they could legally get away with selling orphans to Cambodia for use as bait in tiger fighting matches, they would. Assuming, of course, that the negative publicity didn’t outweigh their 40% profit margins. I don’t want this statement to be taken as an indictment against Apple though. After all, they’re just a company like any other, which means they are in the business of making money. So, it isn’t a question of whether Apple morally opposes selling porn when the reality is that they will sell porn whenever they feel they can safely do so. And by “safely” I mean “won’t get killed by the moral backlash” generated by hordes of outraged Americans.


That, I think, is the real issue here. Because if Apple was serious about providing this type of content, then they would get this content to iTunes one way or another. Licensing deals, DRM, and contract issues are just minor problems to be solved. After all, if they can sign Disney they can sign anybody.

-- When Will iTunes Sell Porn? [Apple Matters]

It's an interesting point - although consider the tight ties between Apple and Disney (with a Pixar in the middle) you're about as likely to see money shot clips on iTunes as you will Microsoft selling OS X. Apple is already making bushels of money with iTunes and they don't need to risk it by offering family unfriendly material. Netflix made a similar decision early in it's growth - removing sexually explicit movies to better insure a "quality" movie night for their core audience of nuclear families.

So maybe the real question is ... if not Apple then who?