Apple's already battling allegations it stole a student's app Store submission. Now an iPhone app maker has dubbed its “Picture Effect Magic” photo effect with the racial slur of "Nigger Brown". Of course it figures--info listed in the racist naming seems to link the developer to China.
The Apple iPhone app called “Picture Effect Magic” has been available in previous and current versions from the App Store, with free or paid version options. Version 1.8 was released just days ago, June 10, 1.8.1 now just released.
The Picture Effect Magic app for version 1.8 includes a special effect dubbed “54 Nigger-Brown” -- an effect which casts a brownish tint to photo images, while similar effects have the option of casting shades including purple or blue.
Apple originally approved the Picture Effect Magic app for purchase and availability in its App Store, and hasn't yanked the application or made any response over the racial controversy that's sparked outrage among users.
The Picture Effect Magic app's author, a developer listed as “lin xuehua”, had issued a June statement about the racist-sounding "Nigger Brown" special effect -- calling the slur an "expression mistake". The app's author statement included the verbage: “Feel so sorry to have expression mistake, New version will coming soon." That version 1.8.1 did come soon -- very soon, though many have missed its release in the wake of the controversial scandal about the racist name.
The reason listed for the newest 1.8.1 version that has popped up within the last day: minor fix. The "minor fix" description is probably highly debatable.
The author is perhaps very sorry about calling one of the app's effects in version 1.8 "Nigger Brown" -- as negative reviews have since inundated Picture Effect Magic in the App Store after the racial slur was highlighted. The app's rating now hangs at three stars after irate users have left comment after comment and plagued the application's Store ranking. Users have expressed responses that mimic the beliefs of those like "Reviewerofthemonth", one of Picture Effect Magic's former users who said: “I used this [Apple iPhone] app all the time before the update, now there is an effect called n****r brown?! That is disgusting. That is unacceptable and the creators should be ashamed."
Among the most interesting part of the racial slur is that the iPhone app author's website, lodestar.com, no longer goes to that address. While directly viewing the lodestar.com website lists information for a company called Lodestar Research Corporation in Boulder, Colorado, that specializes in plasma physics research. Whether the lodestar.com website domain was sold to another owner is unclear but the app's store link -- which reads lodestar.com -- instead forwards to a domain based in China: blog.sina.com.cn/iphonestar.
The Chinese domain address adds yet another layer of complication -- and even more of an upped bizarre factor. It always makes sense to be a minority while insulting other minorities.