Open or closed, porn finds a way to mobile

When mobile “adult application marketplace” MiKandi announced it was launching the first adult portal and mobile client available for Android devices, many were quick to point out that this would never happen in Apple’s walled garden iPhone. Even though Google and most certainly Verizon Wireless don’t endorse this new entrant, MiKandi was able to bring its porn to Android because it was an open platform.

That is one issue that makes mobile porn an interesting scenario. VZW and other operators claim they can’t fully embrace openness because they have to protect their customers. A child getting access to porn consistently comes up as an example they use to condemn uninhibited openness. In a closed environment, they can better control it. Not to mention the fact that, despite the business opportunity, no carrier wants to be known as the “porn pioneer.”

But now, even the ultimate walled garden, the iPhone, has inadvertently let porn aboard, making the open argument less relevant. The iPhone Sex App Store, disguised cleverly as a magic store on mobile Safari, came online yesterday on the iPhone and iPod Touch.