Considering how quickly Apple pulled the deceptively innocent Boyfriend Maker a few months back, it’s a little surprising that they let an app called “Bang with Friends” go live in the first place. But it’s down now, just a little over a week after its first appearance, presumably because someone at Apple just realized the none-too-subtle meaning behind the name. According to cofounder and CEO Colin Hodge, as reported by Gawker, the salacious app managed to snag over one million users before it was taken down.
It hasn’t completely vanished. The website is still up despite a temporary outage earlier, although the App Store section of the site simply states: “Be right back: We’re working with Apple to get BWF back into the App Store shortly.” There’s also text box where you can enter your e-mail address for an update in the event that Apple allows the site to go live again.
At the moment, it’s not entirely clear why Apple took the app down after greenlighting it aside from the site’s rather obvious intentions. Aside from a fairly explicit logo in the upper left hand corner and a suggestive background image, there’s very little that’s pornographic about the actual site. The concept, indeed, is simple. You’re presented with a gallery of your male or female Facebook friends (your choice), and you press “Down to Bang” under their name if you’d, you know, like to learn how to play drums with them. If they’re also using the service and they’ve selected you, you’ll get an e-mail announcing the mutual interest.
Techcrunch suggests that the issue might not be so black-and-white as it initially seems, pointing out that Zynga went after CupidWithFriends because it was using their “With Friends” trademark, not because it was objecting to the content. Yet as CNET reports, Apple’s also has a history of removing apps with questionable content, such as one in 2011 that listed DUI checkpoints.
But if you’re the kind of person who absolutely needs an app to see if certain things could happen with your friends instead of, you know, asking, you can take heart in the fact that Apple allowed BoyfriendMaker back on the App Store after the developers bumped up the age rating from 4+ to 12+ and cleaned up its act a little. And for what it’s worth, Bang with Friends is still available over at Google’s no-holds-barred Google Play store.
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It’s a day many of us thought may never come: T-Mobile USA is finally an official, Apple-sanctioned carrier for the iPhone as online preorders for the iconic handset are now available.
Right on schedule, T-Mobile’s U.S. website has opened for business on Friday with the iPhone 5 now available as a preorder item. The nation’s fourth-largest carrier will begin selling the 16GB iPhone 5 in stores on April 12, but eager customers can plunk down their hard-earned cash online today and have it delivered to their home next week.
If you’re in the market for a 32GB or 64GB model, that’s actually your only choice: T-Mobile retail stores across the United States will only be stocking the 16GB variation, which is sold outright for 9.99, or as payments of down and per month for the next two years as part of its new “UNcarrier” initiative.
Needless to say, the larger-capacity models will set you back a little more, but in all cases, the iPhone 5 models arrive unlocked, making them a bargain compared to buying direct from Apple, who sells the 16GB model for more than T-Mobile.
T-Mobile is also the first U.S. carrier to introduce HD Voice, which is supported by all models of the iPhone 5; the magenta network will also offer the iPhone 4 and 4S for even less, but only in what they refer to as “select markets.”
Although the product pages are live on t-mobile.com, things may not be completely ready to go yet — but don’t let that stop you, keep checking back and eventually you’ll get your order in.
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T-Mobile will finally offer the iPhone — officially — next month. The carrier is the last major U.S. network to finally offer Apple’s smartphones, but today’s announcement is more than another product being added to a company’s stable. Instead, T-Mobile will sell the iPhone 5 under a unique payment system.
T-Mobile announced its plans to begin selling the iPhone 5 on April 12 during a press event. Furthermore, as previously mentioned, T-Mobile will offer its own 4G LTE network to support the new devices. For years, T-Mobile subscribers have been forced to use unlocked iPhone units, and then to connect to T-Mobile’s 4G HSPA network.
Essentially, the T-Mobile iPhone 5 is the exact same model every other carrier received half a year ago. But T-Mobile will offer the 16GB iPhone 5 for upfront, with 24 subsequent monthly payments of each. Alternatively, you can pay for the iPhone entirely at the time of purchase.
If you do pay for the iPhone 5 completely, you can enjoy a no-contract, “UNcarrier” plan from T-Mobile. And even the payment plan option doesn’t incur a contract, in regards to wireless service. The agreement is specifically intended to pay the device off. While T-Mobile may be a bit late to the Apple party, the company has managed to offer a unique alternative in regards to plans.
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