Software
After government pressure, Apple pulls podcast apps in China
The popular iOS and Android podcast client, Pocket Casts, has been removed from App Store in China by Apple. The Chinese cyberspace administration has found that it can be used for accessing content considered illegal throughout the country and has requested Apple to delete the app. This month is the second biggest Podcast app that will be dropped from the Chinese App Store.
Pocket Casts said in a statement sent to Twitter, 'We agree that podcasting is and should remain an open medium and free of government censorship.' "As such, at their request, we will not censor podcast content.
This means that we don't think our iOS app is going to be available in China, but it is important for any company that appreciates the open distribution model that makes podcasting special.
Pocket Casts says to The Verge that Apple failed, on request, to give details on the content of Chinese law, but that the team should directly reach the Chinese cyber-space government.
Two days after Apple contacted the developer, the software was deleted. China was its 7th largest market, says Pocket Casts, and was thought to grow.
Castro was recently also pulled from the China App Store, another iPhone podcast app. Given a decline of the paying customers, the developers state that China makes up 10% of its users base. Apple did not give Castro specifics of what the Chinese regulations had been governed by.
