Adults-only apps store for smartphones

An adult app marketplace for smartphone users has opened up shop online, exploiting the open architecture of a new generation of mobile phone handsets.

MiKandi, which claims to be the world's first adult app store, is only currently servicing devices using Google's Android operating system, but says the wares in its marketplace will be available on other devices soon.

Unlikely to figure among these, however, is Apple's popular iPhone platform. The company keeps a tight rein on all applications, and does not distribute adult content through its iTunes store, meaning many users resort to "jailbreaking" their iPhones so they can download non-Apple-approved content.

In spite of its strict approval process, one app that did slip by the iTunes censors was the "passion" app that uses the phone's built-in accelerometer, microphone and timer to rate the user's sexual performance. High scores can even be uploaded and compared to those of other iPhone users around the world.

The MiKandi market will work in similar way to the Android app store in that developers submit their own free and paid apps for others to download without the approval process required from proprietary systems, but it will not be hosted within Google's own Android market.

Instead it is offered as a free download to an Android web browser for users aged 18 years or older.

"We do not place heavy restrictions or try to censor your apps. Our job is to make sure you have all the tools you'll need for success. As long as it's legal, the sky's the limit," the company said on its website.

While Android users continue to benefit from the openness of the platform, with an ever-increasing number of apps and variety of handsets on the market, rumours that Google is preparing to launch its own fully branded super-smartphone continue to circulate.

Gizmodo is the latest news blog to report that "trusted sources" have confirmed the Google phone's existence, although many other industry commentators believe the company would never risk alienating its growing legion of hardware partners by launching its own product.

Warren Chaisatien, research director at Telsyte, said the company might succeed with such a venture by executing it in a "non-competitive way" thereby avoiding direct competition with other Android handsets. "That would be a very good outcome for all, but Google would have to communicate clearly to its partners on what it intends to do and how it intends to position it," he said.

"Google as a company has been very aggressive on the mobility front and we will certainly see an intense fight in 2010 with the company attacking the market on multiple fronts," he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News