Apple has started banning many applications for its iPhone that feature sexually suggestive material, and Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, told "The New York Times" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/technology/23apps.html) the reasoning behind the move.

He said that Apple was responding to complaints from App Store users. Schiller said a small number of developers had been submitting “an increasing number of apps containing very objectionable content.”

“It came to the point where we were getting customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kid," he told the "Times."

Analysts said Apple appeared to be trying to ensure that the App Store would not scare off potential customers as its products become more mainstream.

“At the end of the day, Apple has a brand to maintain,” Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, told the "Times". “And the bottom line is they want that image to be squeaky clean.”