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“Apple suppresses diversity, yanks Christian app” Charlie Butts, OneNewsNow http://www.onenewsnow.com/Business/Default.aspx?id=1317076
“Apple has done an about-face on an app for Exodus International — and the Christian organization is not happy about it, saying Apple has “caved, yet again” to pressure from “gay” activists.”
This is not the first time something like this has occurred and the Church gets all hacked about it. My father sent me an article like this several months ago about the Manhattan Declaration App. First, I understand why the Church gets hacked, so don’t think I am some kind of left leaning whack-job. BUT, the Church does not have any right to be hacked. Apple is not a Christian organization, and it is a publicly held company, so why would it cater to the cause of Christ?
What the Church sees as unfair… the favoring of the Gay Community over Exodus International is at the end of the day, “all about the benjamins.” The same rule cited to reject the Operation Exodus application is the same rule that keeps, porn, the Klan, and other undesirable elements out of the App Store. It is a rule that makes the app store a very safe place for my children in comparison with the internet at large. I live in fear of the day when someone tells my kid he should Google “Boobies” or something worse.
The answer is not to get hacked off and act like, well, the church… separate ourselves, demand boycotts of Apple and iPhones and such, but to produce other Apps, commercially viable apps… GAMES, Utilities… that bring value to the user: entertainment, education, etc. and make a lot of money. Buy stock in Apple. If Rovio, the developers of Angry Birds was a Christian owned company, Apple would listen.
Additionally, as a professional consultant in the mobile space, I have a great deal of experience in the conception, design and development of mobile applications. One of the most fundamental errors that is made in building an application is a lack of business plan. An application done well is a real investment. So when anyone undertakes to build an application, they should determine at least a lemonade stand business plan. What is the product (the app is actually the vehicle and not the product.)? Who is the audience? And what is the intended Return on Investment?
Because I have the article handy, let’s look at the Exodus International app.
Exodus International vice president Randy Thomas admits his organization is disappointed by Apple’s decision.
“Our app was simply a resource app to help people who have questions about homosexuality and Exodus International, to learn what we’re really about,” he explains. “Unfortunately gay activists misconstrued the purpose of the app and successfully pressured Apple to remove our app.”
What is the product? ”a resource app to help people with questions about homosexuality and Exodus international…”
Who is the audience? You want to say homosexuals, but that would be wrong, but I’ll come back to that in a second. Let’s assume the audience is intended to be homosexuals.
What is the Return on Investment? Let’s go with the pat answer first… homosexuals who find Christ and come out of the LGBT lifestyle…
So, if the app was meant to be a resource for homosexuals, to have questions about homosexuality answered, and to gain an understanding of Exodus International, resulting in homosexuals repenting and coming to Jesus and becoming heterosexual, then why did it get kicked off the App Store?
So reread Randy Thomas’ description:
“Our app was simply a resource app to help people who have questions about homosexuality and Exodus International, to learn what we’re really about,”
What is the product? Exodus International, not a changed life, not Jesus Christ, but Exodus International.
Who is the audience? ”People.” Which people? Well, hang on…
“And unfortunately they have removed an app that appeals to a large percentage of their customer base,” he notes. “I think Apple has really done themselves a disservice in not representing the true diversity of opinion concerning homosexuality and Christianity.”
I am not sure who Randy Thomas thinks is a “large percentage of their customer base” But with 100 million iPhone, and 10 million iPads… along with countless iPod touches… But it ain’t Evangelical Christians… as I pointed out earlier, if it was, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
And it certainly isn’t the LGBT community either, but rather “everyone else.” But unfortunately Randy Thomas appears to split the world in two halves… the classic “Us and Them,” or in this case “homosexuality and Christianity.” And there is the rub. Thomas indicates that the app is actually intended for a Christian non-homosexual audience.
What is the ROI? To be a resource for people who have questions… about Exodus International. With over 300,000 apps in the App Store, odds are, Randy Thomas has gotten more press and exposure for Exodus International by getting rejected from the App Store, than by having his app disappear into the white noise that 300,000 apps creates.
Thomas and Operation Exodus should return to the drawing board and plan. Create a product. And try again.
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