In response to Apple rejecting an update to his band's iPhone application, Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor took Apple to task in posts to the NIN message board and Twitter.

Last month, Nine Inch Nails launched an iPhone application to create a messaging community and provide fans with music, photos, videos, tour information and the ability to post their own photos, messages and current GPS location. However, a proposed update to the app was recently rejected by Apple due to content from the band's album The Downward Spiral, and Mr. Reznor posted the rejection letter sent to the app developer:

"Thank you for submitting nin: access to the App Store. We've reviewed nin: access and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store at this time because it contains objectionable content which is in violation of Section 3.3.12 from the iPhone SDK Agreement which states:

"?Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple's reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.'

"The objectionable content referenced in this email is ?The Downward Spiral.' Since the app is live on the App store, please make the necessary changes to the application as soon as possible, and resubmit your binary to iTunes Connect. Thank you.

"Regards, iPhone Developer Program"

In response, Mr. Reznor issued the following explicit rant on the NIN message board:

"Now, ?The Downward Spiral' the album is not available anywhere in the iPhone app. The song ?The Downward Spiral' I believe is in a podcast that can be streamed to the app.

"Thanks Apple for the clear description of the problem - as in, what do you want us to change to get past your stupid f***ing standards?

"And while we're at it, I'll voice the same issue I had with Wal-Mart years ago, which is a matter of consistency and hypocrisy. Wal-Mart went on a rampage years ago insisting all music they carry be censored of all profanity and ?clean' versions be made for them to carry. Bands (including Nirvana) tripped over themselves editing out words, changing album art, etc., to meet Wal-Mart's standards of decency - because Wal-Mart sells a lot of records.

"NIN refused, and you'll notice a pretty empty NIN section at any Wal-Mart. My reasoning was this: I can understand if you want the moral posturing of not having any ?indecent' material for sale - but you could literally turn around 180 degrees from where the NIN record would be and purchase the film ?Scarface' completely uncensored, or buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto where you can be rewarded for beating up prostitutes. How does that make sense?

"You can buy The Downward F***ing Spiral on iTunes, but you can't allow an iPhone app that may have a song with a bad word somewhere in it. Geez, what if someone in the forum in our app says F*** or C***? I suppose that also falls into indecent material. Hey Apple, I just got some SPAM about f***ing hot asian teens THROUGH YOUR MAIL PROGRAM. I just saw two guys having explicit a*** sex right there in Safari! On my iPhone!

"Come on Apple, think your policies through and for f***'s sake get your app approval scenario together."

Taking advantage of the microblogging phenomenon, Mr. Reznor's commentary continued via his Twitter feed:

"Apple rejects the NIN iPhone update because it contains objectionable content. The objectionable content referenced is The Downward Spiral.

"We're wondering if anyone at the ?cutting edge' and ?hip' company are actually familiar with the band, because if anything, The Downward Spiral is the album that brought the band to heightened success with its controversial lyrics and questionable video content. Even so, it's not as bad as the iSnort app."