We haven’t gotten official word on this but the Economic Times of India is reporting that Apple changed its return policy on Apps from minutes to 7 days. We reported earlier this month that Taiwan gave both Apple and Google two weeks to comply withits consumer protection mandate.
An official said the lack of a return and refund mechanism violated the Consumer Protection Act. In an example of the problem the city government is trying to prevent, Yeh cited a case of software bought on Apple Store on Thursday that did not work, but left the buyer without recourse.
It appears that Apple has complied (Google, less so):
Taiwan’s consumer protection law stipulates that consumers are entitled to a seven-day trial period after purchasing any products via Internet, including cell phone software applications.
The capital city’s government found that Google and Apple had violated the law and on June 8 ordered them to alter their trading rules.
“Google refused to change its rules,” Betty Chen, the head of a consumer protection at the city government, said. Apple changed its rules.
While this would be nice for Taiwanese consumers (perhaps a little too nice), developers will now see some of their apps “trialled” for a few days and then returned.
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