Bloomberg Columnist Calls on Apple to Sell Porn

NEW YORK — If you’ve got porn on your iPod, you didn’t get it through Apple’s iTunes. But according to Bloomberg columnist Mark Gilbert, the company’s reluctance to distribute porn is a big mistake.

Last month Apple announced that its customers were buying 1 million videos per week from the moving picture service that started in October, bringing the total number of downloaded videos to more than 15 million.

With numbers like those, Gilbert sees a blue Apple as a no-brainer.

“It's pretty obvious, if a little dismaying, that adding an adult video section to the iTunes website would generate a ton of new visitors and additional revenue for Apple,” he writes. “If the tiny 2.5 inch screen on the video iPod is no deterrent to people watching ‘Desperate Housewives,’ it's not likely to hinder potential viewers of, errrr, desperate housewives.”

While Gilbert acknowledges that porn doesn’t exactly fit Apple’s image, he sees money as the ultimate barometer.

“Money, though, is the root of all evil, and there's a lot of money to be made from the alleged evil of so-called adult entertainment,” Gilbert writes. “Porn is, literally, the Internet's dirty big secret. There are 4.2 million pornographic websites, with 372 million porn pages handling 68 million search requests per day, according to TopTenReviews, which analyzes software products and Internet services.”

Gilbert cites Apple’s recent decision to introduce software that lets Apple computers with Intel chips run Microsoft applications as evidence that profit, above all else, is king at the company these days. While Gilbert thinks it sad that the one-time maverick is selling out, his column suggests that Apple could have it both ways, making money and blazing trails by jumping headlong into adult content distribution.

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Arcom Sends Warning Letters to 5 Adult Sites Over Age Verification

French media regulator Arcom has sent enforcement notices to the operators of five adult websites that the agency says have failed to implement age verification as required under France’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law.

MojoHost Launches NVIDIA Blackwell GPU Hosting

MojoHost has launched NVIDIA Blackwell hosting with RTX Pro 6000 MaxQ GPUs.

FSC: Identity Theft Targeting Adult Performers

The Free Speech Coalition has put out an alert warning of an individual found to be targeting adult performers for identity theft.

Assylum.com Debuts New Age Verification Feature

Assylum.com has introduced an age verification system across its member sites.

European Commission to Assess Pornhub, XVideos, XNXX Compliance With Digital Services Act

The European Commission plans to conduct a study to determine how well adult sites Pornhub, XVideos and XNXX are addressing illegal content and other potential harms under the EU’s Digital Services Act.

German Higher Court Upholds Ban on PornHub, YouPorn

The Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate on Thursday upheld a “network ban” on Aylo-owned adult sites Pornhub and YouPorn for failing to comply with German age verification regulations.

Alabama Notifying Adult Sites of New Tax Set to Take Effect Sept. 1

The Alabama Department of Revenue has begun sending notices to adult site operators about a new 10% tax on their revenues, set to be enforced starting Sept. 1.

Ondato, CCBill Announce Strategic Partnership for Global High-Risk Market

Age and identity verification company Ondato and payment processor CCBill have formed a strategic partnership to serve the global high-risk market.

Ofcom Investigates 4 More Adult Companies for OSA Compliance

U.K. media regulator Ofcom has launched investigations into whether four companies operating adult websites have implemented requisite age assurance measures under the Online Safety Act, the agency announced Thursday.

Taylor Nicole Launches New Site Through YourPaysitePartner

Creator Taylor Nicole has launched her new official website through YourPaysitePartner (YPP).

Show More