It’s anyone’s guess right now, says Cherry Media's Julia Dimambro.

Google have released their content rating policy for publishing games and applications on the Android Market this week, but it seems to be creating more problems than it is solving.

Android Market’s Content Rating Guidelines states “Apps that include suggestive or sexual references should be rated “Teen” or above. Apps that focus on such content should be rated “Mature”. Pornography is not allowed in Android Market.”

Okay, simple so far, if SOME sexual suggestion is included, you can rate it “Teen”. If it’s purely focused on suggestive or sexual content, you rate it “Mature”. 

However, nothing was mentioned in relation to Android Market’s approval process for this and as a result, the general understanding from the developer community so far is that developers can rate their own apps.

One developer even noted that if you are a teen or older, nothing much has changed.

So my initial concerns about these new guidelines have already been confirmed. “Sexual and suggestive content” is just too ambiguous and open to individual interpretation. (Bill Clinton immediately springs to mind here with his own, very personal definition of what constitutes ‘sexual relations’ - you see my point!).

If no official approval process is in place and no proper grading information is supplied, how can Google hope to manage this process effectively? 

The only slight hint as to actual grading level limits is mentioned in Market Developer Content Policy, which states nothing more than “We don't allow content that contains nudity, graphic sex acts, or sexually explicit material”. 

By Cherry Media’s grading standards, that puts the actual Android Market grading level between Topless: T1 and T3 (see definitions here) - completely different from the current developer perceptive.

I’d be the first to admit that over my eight years working in mobile erotic my ‘perception’ of what is erotic and what is adult has changed.

You tend to suffer from some desensitisation over such a long period of time. However, it is this varying perception of what actually constitutes ‘porn’ that Google MUST resolve now!  

It is vital, both for their brand and for Android’s continued emergence as the dominant app platform, that they learn from the MNO experience in this field.

The Vodafone UK / Telus Canada difference is an excellent case in point. Both built robust access control systems, both launched an adult area behind the ACs.

However, Vodafone publicised it as ‘protecting minors and customers who didn’t want this content on their phones’.

Telus, on the other hand, tried to keep the adult launch very hush-hush, almost as if hoping no-one would notice and they had a backlash from the Canadian church threatening their entire organisation.

They shut down their adult area immediately, whilst Vodafone UK has enjoyed revenues from this hugely demanded content type for the last six years, and maintained a great reputation as a responsible and pro-active MNO!

Here’s how you do it Google!

   1. Create proper content grading guidelines for developers. If anyone from the Android Market is reading this, Cherry can help you here! ;)

   2. Implement a proper approval process based on the grading guidelines, that is consistent.  We have seen with many adult approval processes that content approved one day by one individual is later rejected by another. This hits home the need for really clear and concise content grading guidelines!

   3. Implement access controls on Android Market – After all, consenting adults should have freedom of choice to spend their money on what they want , but at the same time, minors should be protected, as should those amongst us who do not want to presented with this type of content at any time! AC has proven to provide this effectively!

For all you developers out there that have already invested in adult applications for Android, Cherry Media is a world leader in mobile adult entertainment and has 8 years specialist experience in delivering customer value for softer grading levels.

Our own commercial results have shown that suggestive erotica can have as similar a consumer experience and value as explicit erotica, if the context is right – something Cherry Media specialises in for the mobile market.