Apple has banned a Chinese bookstore app for iOS, citing illegal content as the reason. The app offered titles that the Chinese government says are illegal. It was clarified to the developer by Apple that the app has only been pulled from the Chinese App Store. It will remain online in iTunes Store outside of China. The company did not say exactly which of the titles were illegal. The app is called Jingdian Shucheng, a loose translation of which means Classic Bookstore, it offers 10 books.
Recently we have been seeing a change in how Apple deals with matters related to China. After a state sponsored propaganda campaign was expected to cause Apple billions in sales, the company apologized to China which saw their state media soften its stance. Now just a couple of days after that, it bans an app in China that offers books that have been declared illegal by the government there. The developer doesn’t think that the app’s removal is related in any way to the troubles Apple is facing in China, but he does add that the app had be operating for over two months without any problems.
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