Jeff LaMarche on Apple’s iPhone OS 4.0 event:

I thought some of the answers given during the Q&A period were just outright disingenuous. The most blatant case in point was when Steve was asked about distributing apps without the App Store, His response was to point out that Android has a porn app store that your kids can get to, and then state that Apple didn’t want to go there. Whisky. Tango. Foxtrot?

Kids can get to any number of porn web sites on a Mac, iPad or iPhone.

Apple does absolutely have a right to do this: It’s their walled garden. I just wish they’d be more upfront about their reasons when asked rather than giving stupid responses like think of the children (which has already become a bit of a joke from its use in censorship discussions). […]

If Steve had stood up on stage and said, we want our 30% cut, so that’s why you can’t distribute outside the App Store, it would have felt like it was an honest answer. If he had said, we want to control the experience in any way we can, I would have bought it. I might not have liked it, but those would have felt like honest answers.

The answer we got today felt like a big fuck you disguised as a smarmy we know better than you.