ESRB to Rate Mobile Apps - Apple Will Not Be a Part of Scheme
United States games rating board jumps on Android and Windows Phone
Angry Chickens... yes, that's what we said.
The USA's game ratings board - Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is teaming up with the wireless trade group CTIA "to create new parent-friendly ratings for mobile apps".
According to the LA Times:
"Major carriers Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and U.S. Cellular, as well as Microsoft Corp., whose Windows operating systems power a small percentage of mobile phones, have agreed to use the ratings for applications that are sold from the devices they sell.
"The carriers, which sell apps via their own storefronts -- much as Apple Inc.'s iTunes sells music -- are expected to roll out the ratings sometime next year. Each carrier will decide for its own store whether the ratings will be mandatory for some or all apps, or entirely voluntary."
Fascinatingly in terms of the kind of self-regulation that operates in the USA, "The agreement does not include iPhone apps, which are monitored by Apple."
Patricia Vance, president of the ESRB, states that the ratings "will include descriptions of what's in the application such as sexual innuendoes and depictions of drug use, will be helpful to parents."
She also states that, "When you’ve got hundreds of thousands of apps and the range of content is wide, you need tools that provide consumers with information.
"With more and more kids using handheld mobile devices, parents in particular would like to have a tool they can trust and help them determine what apps get downloaded onto a device."
Source: LA Times
According to the LA Times:
"Major carriers Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and U.S. Cellular, as well as Microsoft Corp., whose Windows operating systems power a small percentage of mobile phones, have agreed to use the ratings for applications that are sold from the devices they sell.
"The carriers, which sell apps via their own storefronts -- much as Apple Inc.'s iTunes sells music -- are expected to roll out the ratings sometime next year. Each carrier will decide for its own store whether the ratings will be mandatory for some or all apps, or entirely voluntary."
Fascinatingly in terms of the kind of self-regulation that operates in the USA, "The agreement does not include iPhone apps, which are monitored by Apple."
Patricia Vance, president of the ESRB, states that the ratings "will include descriptions of what's in the application such as sexual innuendoes and depictions of drug use, will be helpful to parents."
She also states that, "When you’ve got hundreds of thousands of apps and the range of content is wide, you need tools that provide consumers with information.
"With more and more kids using handheld mobile devices, parents in particular would like to have a tool they can trust and help them determine what apps get downloaded onto a device."
Source: LA Times
Companies:
Apple
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Comments
deleted 30 Nov 2011 00:16
1/1
No that I care either way but America a society or worrying overreacting game blaming gun toting citizens why not enforce the ESRB ratings?