Playboy the latest mag to censor itself for Apple

Apple iPad owners have been afforded a glimpse of the brave new advertiser-friendly world they have bought into after Playboy magazine agreed to remove its nude content in return for approval of its new app.

Anybody splashing out $4.99 for Playboy's iPad app - the same price as the uncensored print magazine - will only see the magazine's Playmate of the Month as a tasteful headshot.

Of course Playboy does have a reputation for good journalism - a fact that has given rise to the saying: "I only read it for the articles." The new iPad app will finally test exactly how popular an articles-only Playboy would be.

The ban on Playboy's Playmates is not surprising: the terms and conditions to which app developers must adhere are clear. "Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind that in Apple's reasonable judgment may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users."

Steve Jobs, who sits on the board of directors of the most family-friendly company in the world, Disney, has said: "We do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone."

But this attitude has led to criticism and ridicule in the censorship-averse media and even Apple's notoriously sycophantic 'fanboys', who are overwhelmingly metropolitan and liberal.

Staff at Dazed & Confused magazine, the cultural bible for the terminally trendy, reportedly refer to their iPad app as the "Iran edition". When an app by Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Mark Fiore was initially banned for "ridiculing" public figures, Apple quickly caved in and waved it through the security cordon.

But Steve Jobs is unrepentant, telling an angry customer who emailed him this year to take him to task over censorship: "Folks who want porn can buy an Android phone." ·