Chinese developers and experts applaud Apple's app-clearing move

Domestic app developers and experts said on Wednesday that Apple's intensifying efforts to clean its mobile operating platform iOS by removing unqualified apps in China are laudable and won't hurt its market share in the country in the long run.

According to a report by ql1d.com on Thursday, about 30,000 Chinese apps have been removed from the Apple app store as of Thursday.

The targeted apps are clones, pirated music, long deserted apps and those with lurking risks, according to media reports. Apps with the "hot update" function, which allows developers to change an app's behavior or functionality after Apple's app review approval, have also been targeted.

Apple said that it wouldn't comment on the app-removing issue, but stressed that the move is not to declare war against developers like some news outlets have reported, according to a statement the company sent to the Global Times on Thursday.

Hao Peiqiang, a tech commentator who used to be a developer, told the Global Times on Thursday that developers tried to use the "hot update" function to bypass the long app review process (usually a week) by Apple. But now that the process has been cut short to about one day, there's no need for the function to exist anymore, Hao said.

There have been market comments that Apple's strict regulations will scare away developers who will turn to iOS's biggest competitor Android, the mobile operating platform developed by Google Inc which has looser management.

Liu Dingding, a Beijing-based industry expert, said that in the short term Apple's strict regulations might hurt its market share in China, but in the long run a neat, standardized program development environment will be of more appeal to both developers and users.

"In terms of removing scam or clone apps, I am with Apple," he told the Global Times Thursday. "It's a move to drive out nonstandard operations."

"Besides, big app developers like Tencent will never abandon iOS over Apple regulations, because they need the large user base that Apple owns," Liu noted.

A Shanghai-based developer told the Global Times on Thursday that Apple's strict management of apps is to guarantee its revenue sharing system, which requires that 30 percent of developers' revenues should be submitted to Apple.

"We are not happy with that rule, but we have no choice but to obey, because nobody wants to miss the large customer base owned by Apple," the developer told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The developer said that another problem with iOS is that it has a lot of "boundaries" for developers. "Many functions are not allowed. In this sense Android is more accommodative," the developer said.