“A group of California parents calling Apple’s in-app purchasing practices rotten for luring their kids with expensive ‘addictive’ game apps gets to proceed with a class-action lawsuit. A San Jose judge recently denied Apple’s effort to get the case dismissed,” Michelle Maltais reports for The L.A. Times.
MacDailyNews Take: Ooh, Apple and “rotten.” How original.
Maltais reports, “n the suit, the parents allege that their minor children were able make purchases of ‘game currency’ within free games without their knowledge or permission. And the ‘highly addictive’ nature of the games ‘compel children playing them to purchase large quantities of game currency, amounting to as much as $100 per purchase or more,’ the suit alleges.”
“Although Apple has since made adjustments, at the time the suit was filed, several purchases could be made for a period after the password was initially entered to buy the app,” Maltais reports. “While the case can go forward, whether the parents prevail remains to be seen, of course. Apple has argued that parents can easily block their children from making such charges.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Parents sue Apple over in-app charges – April 16, 2012
Lack of parental controls on Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire lets kids charge up a storm – December 12, 2011
Freemium and Apple’s App Store: The in-app purchasing model really works – October 14, 2011
