Edible Apple

Steve Jobs’ stance on porn couldn’t be anymore clear – Do what you want on your own time, but don’t ever expect to see porn apps on the iPhone. Back in April, Jobs fired off an email to a consumer where he said that smartphone users who want porn should buy an Android phone. And during a Q&A session following the iOS 4.0 announcement, Jobs didn’t mince words, stating:

You know, there’s a porn store for Android. You can download nothing but porn. You can download porn, your kids can download porn. That’s a place we don’t want to go – so we’re not going to go there.

And while Apple is busying keeping smut off of its products, the porn industry is keeping itself busy trying to get porn ontodevices like the iPhone and iPad. Whether this means re-encoding Flash video into iOS friendly H.264 or being at the forefront of video streaming, the porn industry is typically on the front lines when it comes to implementing technological advancements into their products. In fact, it’s widely believed that Sony’s refusal to support pornography on its Betamax video player is what ultimately allowed VHS, largely considered a second class technology at the time, to push Sony’s Betamax out of the picture and eventually into obscurity.

These days, porn studios are looking for ways to integrate Apple’s new Facetime video chat feature into their content offerings. A recent report from the AP notes that there are Craigslist ads in at least 5 cities looking for Facetime video models. That’s right, porn companies are apparently looking to cater to the iPhone 4 crowd with Facetime sex chats. Though hardly a new concept, sex chats via mobile devices is on the horizon and much to the chagrin of Apple and Steve Jobs, the iPhone 4 is apparently driving the boat.

For the adult-entertainment industry, FaceTime could be more than just another medium. It could actually change the business. For independent sex-chat workers, for instance, it could mean handing over less of their earnings to computer-based services.

But FaceTime presents its own challenges. It requires that both parties in a chat have each other’s phone numbers, which could expose video-chat workers to unwanted calls from their clients.

Another obstacle: The iPhone 4 camera was designed specifically for face-to-face chatting.

So yes, there are a few hiccups, and we’re not to sure if customers will be so eager to give up their phone numbers to complete strangers in exchange for a little Facetime action. Then again, and to modify an oft-quoted phrase, no one ever got poor by underestimating the intelligence of the masses. And on a related note, there are rumors that the next iteration of the iPod Touch will come with a front-facing video camera that will include support for Facetime video chat based off of users’ email addresses.

Meanwhile, Apple is working equally as hard to highlight the iPhone 4’s Facetime feature, as evidenced by a slew of heartwarming ads showcasing how mobile video chat can bring friends and family closer together.

Talk about a juxtaposition.