App Store News: Apple Clamping down on Emoji iPhone Apps; Purges Reviews Submitted by Non-Customers
App Store News: Apple Clamping down on Emoji iPhone Apps; Purges Reviews Submitted by Non-Customers
In case you were not aware, for the past month or so, iPhone developers had released iPhone apps which used a loop hole in iPhone's SDK to enable Emoji emoticons which were introduced in iPhone firmware 2.2 and strangely available only to iPhone users on Japan's SoftBank network. Apple has...
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I like the emoji icons. It only works when you text them to other iphones but I think it's worth it. I bought an app called Frosty place (99cents) and clicked on one of its articles to activate the emoji icons.
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To the author of this blog: Apple does not have a specific policy against the use of emoji icons on networks other than Softbank, however, it must follow agreements with the carriers it provides the iPhone to. AT&T will not allow Emoji icons because it has not developed a universal system for displaying them on all of its phones, and the alternative is to enable it for all users who text, which it will not do until they can find some way to charge more for the service.
This is nothing to do with Apple. If it were, Apple would have limited the release of Emoji icons to Japanese phones only by distributing customized updates to Japanese users via iTunes. The blocking of Emoji in other nations is really a matter of corporate greed.
On another note, I love emojis. I wonder though if I can text them to friends without iPhones, because they don't have the artwork files on their phones already....
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Hey TJ,
I am sure there is some reason as its quite unlike Apple. But I don't think it is anything to do with limitations at the carriers end.
As for your question, your friends will only be able to see the Emoji icons if their mobile phones support Emoji.
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I think the reason why emoji icons are getting an increasing popularity lately (out of Japan) is because of the fact that the iPhone is lacking basic smilies functionality as part of options available on its virtual keyboard. Many people nowdays specially young & texting (chatting) users are using smilies on daily bases when people are using messenger programs on their computers. I believe it is an important factor to express feelings and emotions when it is hard to express such matter by words or letters.
Unfortunately emoji is right now only iPhone to iPhone viewable but I believe if Apple decides to include these emotions and smilies in their future firmwares (wether it is emoji or any kind of icons display)then we won't get a lot of fuzz about this subject anymore.
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Hey Zed,
You probably have a point, I had forgotten that iPhone's SMS app did not support smileys.
And thanks for making me realize that I no longer fall in the "young and chatting" users group, that explains why I was surprised with their popularity :) (I just didn't get it)
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I have a theory as to why Apple want to restrict the Emoji icons from iPhones outside of Japan's Softbank network.
I do not believe it has to do with carrier commitments or the carrier wanting to charge for this capability.
I think it has to do with User Experience and Apple has its way of doing things. Long time Apple product users and developers will understand this determination for delivering a certain User Experience to end-users of Apple products.
Here is an excerpt from a recent article in my blog:
"... I personally see only one reason why Apple may not want to enable this function for all iPhone users. That is because when messages containing Emoji icons are received on devices or applications that do not support the Emoji icon character encoding, these icons will be displayed as little squares. Plus there are approximately 80% or more of the world’s mobile phones do not support the Emoji icon character encoding.
So true to Apple’s believes in a perfect user experience they will not want to enable the feature unless 90% or more of the world’s mobile phones can support it."
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In Japan Emoji are on all mobile phones and they are a standard even if the picture itself is not (depending on the carrier and handset). I understand if for what ever reason Apple feels it can not offer this function outside of Japan but I would prefer if they took a more casual attitude to enforcement. Oh well still love the phone.
By the way, if you have not enabled the function download Spell Number before the update is in place
www.waterworld.com.hk/spell_number_easter_egg
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Hey Vinko,
That could very well be the reason but as QuietShade suggested maybe it would have been nice if Apple gave that option for users to decide (enable/disable).
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Yes, Apple could have given the end-users the option to choose, but if you know Apple's past history that is just not the way they do things.
In most cases, when it comes down to User Experience, Apple always feels they know better. Often the case this is true, but we only find that out years afterwards.
I am not to say that Apple is always right, but they had been correct more than they were wrong in the past; removal of floppy disk, inclusion of writable optical drives in all computers, adoption of AAC.
BTW: this may also explain why there is only one service among the standard set of services for Bluetooth available on the iPhone
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Well, I wanted Emoji on my iPhone and it turns out Cocoamug found a way to enabled it right from my Mac. For reference, you can check out http://cocoamug.com/emoji for more. Nice app.
