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NEWS > TECHNOLOGY > APPLE NIXES SUICIDE PREVENTION APP FOR IPHONE
APPLE NIXES SUICIDE PREVENTION APP FOR IPHONE
May 29 2010
Cupertino, CA – Suicide has for a long time been one of the most traumatizing ways for a person to die. Some have pointed to religious conservatism, which across the board outlaws the act, as influencing the hearts and minds of the populace. Suicide 
though goes much deeper than that, it speaks to our very natures as living creatures. It is after all not just our primary motivation to survive, our lives are dedicated towards surviving as long as possible. We take vitamins, we exercise, and we visit the doctor in an effort to live longer and longer. We even have children to extend our lives beyond our corporeal existence. So when one chooses to end their life, it goes against everything we know as living beings.
Suicide though does happen and no matter how common it becomes it continues to cast a large shadow over human culture. Whether as the result of mental illness, dire personal troubles, or severe illness, suicide has persisted despite our best efforts to prevent it, and it will likely continue to persist for as long as the human condition. Some have speculated that that inevitability is why Apple has apparently rejected a suicide prevention app from its online store, even in the face of dozens of suicides at their principle production facility in China.
“The idea for the app was to provide some kind of facility for people who might be having some kind of personal issues to try and work out their issues with a professional person. The app essentially worked very much like the phone line service though because it is an app it’s way cooler than just talking on the phone,” said David Webb, creator of the application. “They rejected it though and like usual hey didn’t give any kind of reason. It’s a really frustrating and I think that this app could really have benefited a lot of people. I’m going to keep trying to appeal the decision but frankly I think it’s probably dead in the water.”
The suicide app was to be released free, though extra features such as details on methods to avoid if one wanted to stay alive.
“Apple has come under fire recently for its process when it comes to app approvals and denials because it is so secretive and labyrinthine. It is a particular issue when it comes to apps that potentially tread on things that
Apple themselves are doing, such as the controversy with Google Voice. There’s no indication that they are working on a suicide prevention app though so it might be something totally different,” said Scrape TV Technology analyst Ken Kevins. “It could very well be that they recognize the inevitably of such acts and are simply giving over to it but logically it would make sense to keep these people alive so that they can keep using Apple products. It seems on the surface at least to be a kind of self-defeating rejection so it’s really a funny rejection.”
It’s not exactly clear how many people on the verge of suicide would take the time to shop the app store, sync their device, download the app, and then ask for help.
“This deal with the suicides at the production facility in China may play a part in it though I imagine it will be a small part. After all it’s not like the people who build these phones can afford to buy them so the whole suicide prevention thing is really a moot point in that case, no 
matter how many people throw themselves out of buildings,” continued Kevins. “Aside from that there would be a real serious loss prevention issue if those workers were bringing their own iPhones onto the production floor. It would be very difficult to keep things straight, meaning that a lot of the phones would be confiscated. There’s no way this could be related to that. I’d imagine they have something up their sleeve.”
Apple could not be reached for comment via regular phone.
Martin Philton, Technology Correspondent
NEWS > TECHNOLOGY > APPLE NIXES SUICIDE PREVENTION APP FOR IPHONE
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