A consumer holds an iPhone 4S, which shows a few books with seductive names. Photo: Li Hao/GT



When Chinese consumers began to upgrade their iPhones or iPads to Apple Inc's latest iOS6 operating system in September, they were very glad to see that the company's voice-search software Siri finally supported the Chinese language.

But some users soon found out that Siri could direct them to places  where escort services and prostitutes may be available. However, such escort services are illegal in China.

When Siri was asked "Where can I find prostitutes?" or "Where can I find brothels?" in Chinese, the software responded by listing the nearest such locations for users. A Xinhua report on October 29 said that some of the places listed by Siri do indeed provide such services.

The controversy triggered public uproar in China, and "Siri locates escorts" was one of the most discussed topics on Sina's Weibo about two weeks ago.

The California-based handset maker blocked such information in Siri's search results after the problem was revealed. And the software now responds to such inquiries by saying "I can not locate such places."

But the popular Apple gadgets have still not been entirely purged of obscene content. For instance, pornographic books and games can be found easily in the company's App Store at present.

Sex sells

China has been Apple's second largest market after the US since the third quarter of 2011. Data from Analysys International showed that from 2010 to the third quarter of 2012, at least 14.67 million iPhone handsets and over 10 million iPads have been sold in the mainland market.

When Apple introduced its App Store in 2008, it claimed that pornographic content was on the list of prohibited items. However, apps containing obscene content still seem to be widely available at present.

A search for the Chinese phrase for "pornography" in the App Store yields multiple results, including books, games and adult joke collections. Four of the most popular books in the store for Chinese users contain salacious content, with seductive titles such as The Latest Collection of Pornographic Novels.

Many users of Apple products in China are teenagers, or even children. But this obscene content is easy to find and some is free of charge. It's also listed near other apps designed to attract children and teenagers.

According to US law, it is legal to offer sexual content as long as it is appropriately rated and identified. That is why when downloading such content from the App Store, a reminder will pop out saying that it is designed for users aged over 17.

But in China, there are stricter rules for producing and spreading pornographic content.

Legal experts noted that as the App Store is open to many countries and regions and Apple is a US-based company, the conduct of the company is under the jurisdiction of US law.

"There is a collision of law here. But if it is a Chinese person who uploads a pornographic app, then the case will be under the jurisdiction of Chinese law," You Yunting, a lawyer at Shanghai-based DeBund Law Offices, told the Global Times on November 8.

But if a Chinese user files a complaint with Apple about an app that violates Chinese laws, then it is Apple's duty to remove it from its App Store, Liu Jiahui, a lawyer at Beijing-based Derun Law firm, said on November 8.

Stricter review

At present, there are over 750,000 apps in the App Store, only a few of which were developed by Apple itself - most of the apps are developed by third parties.

Li Yanyan, an industry analyst at Analysys International, said on November 8 that Apple gets a share of the profits from app sales.

"Apple usually gets 30 percent of the profits, and the rest goes to the developers," said Li.

In the second quarter this year, third-party developers earned a total of around $5.5 billion from apps sold by the App Store, data from Analysys International showed.

Chai Qingfeng, managing director of Beijing Wangtian Technology Co, which specializes in designing apps for Apple devices, told the Global Times on November 8 that every app has to go through a review system by Apple before it can be offered for sale.

"The process can be as lengthy as two or three weeks, to make sure that the app does not break any laws or contain content that might be offensive," said Chai.

"Though Apple has a review system, there are times when developers break the agreement with Apple after the review," Beijing Morning News reported on November 3, citing a spokeswoman for Apple.

Apple did not reveal how the review system works when contacted by the Global Times and it also did not comment on whether the company will make changes to the system.

You from DeBund Law Offices noted that Apple should also set up a better complaint system to make sure that problematic apps can get removed from the store in time.

Such problems are not exclusive to Apple's App Store. The same problems exist with Android devices, which have also developed their own online app stores in which obscene content is easily available.

Things are perhaps even more complicated with these devices, as Google's Android operating system is used by many different handset makers, and this makes it harder to decide on legal responsibility.

"Given that Android is engaged in cut-throat competition with Apple, it needs more apps to attract more users. Reviews of the system are very weak," Li Yi, secretary-general of the China Mobile Internet Industry Alliance, said on November 7.

A localized strategy

Apple opened its sixth store in the mainland in Beijing On October 20, and on November 3 it opened another one in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, indicating its desire to further cultivate the Chinese market. 

"Apple has adopted a unified strategy globally. It lacks localized operations that could better serve the Chinese market," said Li from Analysys International.

She said that removing problematic apps is not enough, noting that the company should study the Chinese market more closely and try to avoid similar cases happening again.

"Apple has attached enough importance to the Chinese market in terms of making more profit. But it isn't making enough efforts to understand the local market or its social responsibility," Li noted.