The notoriously strict application gatekeepers at Apple appeared to let their guard down on Tuesday when they approved a game called Phone Story for download on the firm's ever growing App Store.

However, the dozy staff should have looked closer, as the game is a none-to-subtle dig at the way smartphone factory workers are exploited in less well-off nations.

One level of the game involves the player trying to catch workers attempting to commit suicide, a reference to the fact that several staff at Foxconn, Apple's notorious manufacturing supplier, have done just that.

Eventually the staff at Apple realised their mistake (See? People at Apple do make mistakes) and pulled the game from the store, but not before countless thousands of iPhone owners had no doubt downloaded the game to see what it was all about.

Sneak thinks the developers should now make Phone Story 2, in which a disgruntled customer has to overcome levels such as The Inept Shop Worker, The Unfathomable Contract of Doom and The Fiddly Sim Card of Death on their way to getting a new phone.

14 Sep 2011