Ok, I've been willing to cut Apple some slack of the past months for their "see how it goes" attitude of running the iTunes App Store, particularly with regard to how applications get approved. I've done so because it's very much new territory to Apple. And remember, despite this, the number of applications available to the iPhone / iPod touch exceeds that available to Windows Mobile.

But I'm a bit miffed now, to say the least.

The popular Twitter client Tweetie - which I deem popular because I use it - has been waiting for approval at version 1.3 for a little while. Today word comes back from Atebits (its developers) that it was rejected.

Why, you might ask?

"Why?"

Thanks for asking: it's because the Trends screen contains an offensive word. For those unfamiliar with Twitter, trends are merely the most popular words or phrases used in Tweets. That is, they are generated solely by Twitter's users and Tweetie, or indeed any other client application, has no influence on this list.

Atebits has resubmitted the application, with Trends screenshots of four other Twitter clients. We all wait in hope.

I'm currently expecting the next version of the iPhone / iPod touch to be hardwired with no network capabilities at all. That way we can be protected from all those nasty words on the internet. Oh, and no text messages either, or address cards with dubious contact information. We'll be lucky to get voice.