Though not as bad as newspapers, the magazine business is struggling too.  However, Sports Illustrated is moving digital with an iPhone app featuring models from its 2009 Swimsuit Issue. The Swimsuit issue came out in February, but the app just hit the iTunes store last week (iTunes link).

Sports Illustrated is marketing this as the “World’s Sexiest App” for $2.99 USD.  While other applications, like Hottest Girls, have tried to make money off images of woman - they have been shut down by Apple for going too far. However, along with the brand name reputation of Sports Illustrated comes their ability to master the border line.  Nobody else comes even close to Sports Illustrated when it comes to mastering the line between pictures of beautiful woman and pornography.  Because of this, the World's Sexiest App will most certainly also be one of the world's most profitable iPhone apps.  

So what has Sports Illustrated put into this application?  For your $2.99 you get photos of 20 models including Brooklyn Decker and Danica Patrick in various states of bikini nothingness and “breathtaking bodypainting videos.”  Woman from around the world are featured, with photo shoots in places like Naples, the Riveria Maya and Tenerife.

It’s as close to porn as you can get on the iPhone - passing the barrier of iTunes censors.  This application received the new 17+ rating for “Frequent/Intense Mature/Suggestive Themes” and “Frequent/Intense Sexual Content or Nudity.” BlackBerry owners will have to wait, but not too long because in August they will be able to get their swimsuit model fix.

But Sports Illustrated is, of course, about sports too. The application sports a feature-rich sports calendar.  The app’s description in the iTunes App Store reads. “It’s a convenient way to keep track of schedules and scores for up to six of your favorite American pro and college sports teams and lets you choose a different girl to feature for every month of the year.” 

There is the rub.  While the models hail from around the globe and the photo shoots took place around the world - the sports are plain out US centric.  When are companies like Sports Illustrated going to realize that they have a global brand?  How hard would it be to create the ability to customize this for different markets with cricket and rugby schedules.  If Sports Illustrated, and their technology partner Azuki Systems, were thinking global they would allow for developers in different marketplaces to import calendars for sports in each marketplace.

Sex may be the same in the US as around the world, but sports are a different beast with so much more than US college and professional football - heck it's not even the real football!