iPhone App Directory

Scratch may come to the iPad


Having posted on the removal of the scratch app form the app store I found this statement from the scratch team at MIT:

We're disappointed that Apple decided not to allow a Scratch player on the iPhone or iPad (as part of Apple's policy against apps that interpret or execute code). As we see it, there is nothing more important than empowering the next generation of kids to design, create, and express themselves with new media technologies. That's the idea behind Scratch. Kids around the world are using Scratch to program their own interactive stories, games, animations, and simulations with Scratch -- and sharing their creations with one another online. In the process, kids learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively. Since the launch of Scratch in 2007, kids have shared nearly 1 million projects on the Scratch website (http://scratch.mit.edu). We hope that Apple will reconsider its policies so that more kids can experience the joys of creating and sharing with Scratch. (By the way, the Scratch player for the iPhone was created by a third party, not by our group at the MIT Media Lab. But our group is planning to make Scratch authoring tools for the iPad in the future, and we hope Apple will allow us....)

I really hope that Apple make an exception to their rule for Scratch on the iPad. I think it would be an excellent app for children, and me too.

3 comments:

johnnyg0 said...

Didn't Scratch got removed from the iphone store for whatever reasons?

Anonymous said...

Special exceptions for educational tools developed by famous computer scientists or apps with content from Pulitzer-prize-winning illustrators are not satisfactory. What consumers, publishers and developers need is transparency in the App Store approval process.

johnnyg0 said...

If there wasn't for uproar about that illustrator/cartoonist they wouldn't have even considered it because they have a "no satire" policy for the app store. .. that's just ridiculous.

Its their store, they can have whatever policy they want, but its just wrong not to let us get applications from other sources.