“Apple has provided no concrete and immediate solutions to tackle the problem of adults and children racking up credit card bills by making ‘in-app’ purchases on tablets and mobile phones, the European Commission said on Friday,” Julia Fioretti reports for Reuters.
“Following concerns raised by consumer groups in a number of European countries, the EU executive called in industry members, policymakers and consumer protection authorities to discuss clearer guidelines in February,” Fioretti reports. “Since then, Google, which owns the Android operating system for smartphones, has proposed a number of measures that are being implemented. These include banning the word ‘free’ when games contain in-app purchases and changing the default settings so that payments have to be actively authorised before every purchase.”
“But the Commission regretted that Apple, maker of iPhone, had not made any firm commitments on tackling the issue of payment approvals,” Fioretti reports. “‘No concrete and immediate solutions have been made by Apple to date to address the concerns linked in particular to payment authorisation,’ the Commission, the EU executive, said in a statement… Apple said it would address the concerns brought up by the Commission, although it gave no time frame for when it might make the changes, the EU executive said. ‘Over the last year we made sure any app which enables customers to make in-app purchases is clearly marked,’ said an Apple spokesman. ‘We will continue to work with the EC member states to respond to their concerns.'”
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