Washington, January 01: Apple appears to be blocking iPhone applications related to the Dalai Lama and the exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer from its China App Store, IDG News Service reported.
IDG, publisher of Macworld, Computerworld, PC World and other magazines, said the move would make Apple the latest US technology company to censor its services in China.
It said five iPhone applications related to the Tibetan spiritual leader were unavailable in the China store, as was one related to Kadeer, the US-based leader of China’s largely Muslim Uighur community.
China labels both the Dalai Lama and Kadeer as “separatists”.
In a statement to IDG, Trudy Miller, an Apple spokeswoman, said: “We continue to comply with local laws. Not all apps are available in every country.”
Chinese telecom carrier China Unicom began selling the iPhone in China two months ago.
Some of the paid and free applications which IDG said were unavailable provide inspirational quotes from the Dalai Lama or information about Nobel peace prize winners including the Tibetan spiritual leader, the 1989 laureate.
-PTI