Apple has never stated that the purpose of the appstore is to support democracy. And I think it would be hard to argue that the availability of apps (or lack thereof) in Apple's store, which is not even close to a monopoly, has any impact on democracy. I think what's really going on here is that Apple wants to avoid providing apps that might be politically divisive.
EDIT: qualifying availability of apps as within Apples' App Store
>I think what's really going on here is that Apple wants to avoid providing apps that might be politically divisive.
That's called "censorship".
Apple's store has an impact on democracy because Apple is very influential and other companies are likely to imitate their policies. Lots of young people are getting exposed to Apple's flavor of personal computer so, to them, censorship of software will seem normal.
I concede that it may be censorship. So is Walmart's decision not to sell certain CDs or Blockbuster's decision not to stock certain movies. Android Marketplace (or Google Play) has more apps than the Apple App Store (http://www.androidauthority.com/google-android-market-vs-app...). Clearly, Apple's policies have not been imitated. Apple's censorship has, in fact, become a point of differentiation for other markets, thereby drawing more attention to the issue.
And I don't concede that young people will accept censorship of software because they're exposed to apple products. It's all conjecture but given that Android phones are cheaper and have more market share then iOS I find that last statement to be extremely speculative.
Newspapers are very influential, more so than Apple. Will you claim that they should print all letters to the editor, with no discretion?
How about Hacker News? Shall we lobby pg to remove the ability to flag an article, and let this place turn into Reddit?
Yesterday an article I liked had a healthy debate going. It was flagged as not fit for HN (It was political, about race not technology in any way) and it was taken off. I was initially annoyed but I agree with the decision. Isn't there a benefit to having distinction (HN vs Reddit), or choice as all the Android fans preach?
[Please read my other comments before you assume I agree with Apple's decision here.]
And you don't have the choice to buy a different brand of phone?
Limited space is NOT why newspapers have editors. There's a reason the NY Times is so different from the Wall Street Journal.
As I just said in another comment, Even Linux has King Linus. And Android has King Page, Queen Rubin and a host of Lords (Verizon, AT&T, Samsung, etc). Don't kid yourself.
And to repeat, I think Apple's decision in this case is lame and cowardly.
In the sense that private censorship isn't something we should be overly concerned with. This isn't government censorship, this is a private business making a business decision. Go into any store and start yelling at the customers like a street preacher. You will be asked to leave. Same thing at any party. That isn't ehrmagahd censorship.
EDIT: qualifying availability of apps as within Apples' App Store