Sunday, March 6, 2011

Animated parody news story shows Apple's 'plan' for 'luring' kids into in-app purchases

There has been a lot of discussion lately about whether or not the in-app buying system for iOS apps turns children, who may not understand the concept of money into cash cows for both Apple and developers (Apple takes 30 percent of the revenue from in-app purchases). Next Media Animation (NMA), who like to turn news into Sims-style animated vignettes, have turned this story into one as well.

The company earlier lampooned Antennagate and the Wikileaks saga with hilarious videos. In this case, the company is taking aim at erroneous in-app purchases which led to two elementary-school-age boys spending $52 buying virtual coins to play with dolphins in an iPhone game, and an eight-year-old girl racking up a $1,400 iTunes bill by purchasing "Smurfberries" for characters in the Smurfs Village iPhone app.

The tagline of the video's first frame says it all: "Apple temps youngsters into in-app traps." Of course, it's really the developer doing so, but Apple gets its cut, after all.


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