If the News app that comes with the iOS 9 has become your go-to source for everything new, then you’re going to have to learn how to live without it if you plan on visiting China anytime soon. Apple has actually shut down the app in China, something that is not really surprising when you think about the stringent rules that the country has when it comes to online media.
Launched in June, the Apple News app actually allows the user to set their preferences according to the country they are currently located in. Sure, the app is currently available exclusively to US consumers. Its customization options however, would usually allow US users to continue accessing and using the app even if they leave the country.
Try going to China however, and all that you’ll see on your News app would be an error message that says, “Can’t refresh right now. News isn’t supported in your current region.”
Although the US continues to be Apple’s largest market, China comes in second place bringing in an annual income of around $13 billion.
Aside from deactivating the News app completely, another option that Apple has would be to continue the service for users in China, but with the need to create a special newsfeed that would cut out any form of content that the Chinese government would consider as sensitive information. Knowing how conservative their views are about what could be classified as ‘sensitive’, this could be a complicated and resource-wasting process for Apple. Thus the decision to just turn the app off completely.
Of course, Apple users who visited China have already posted their thoughts on social media. Pay4bugs founder Larry Salibra actually wrote all about it in one of his blog posts, saying that the fact that Apple
News automatically turns off the moment you step into mainland China is disturbing, and not cool at all. One concern that he also voiced out is the effect of this move on the rest of the phone. After all, the News app and Apple Maps changes the phone’s behavior depending on the location of the user without having to ask for permission. He sees this as a possible threat.
Well, Apple Maps has actually gone way ahead of the News app. Apple has actually been disabling regular data from Maps for quite some time now, as the Chinese government has specific pre-approved maps that they want people in their country to use. Opening Maps in China automatically replaces your usual maps with the Chinese version, and these maps blot out a lot of other places they do not want their people to see.
These steps by Apple is definitely troubling, knowing that the brand seems to be too willing to change the way their gadgets work just for the sake of maintaining a spot in the Chinese market.
This can make you appreciate the kind of freedom you have, something that allows you to continue enjoying every piece of information you get the moment you grab your phone from stores that sell iPhone units.
