Apple recently made history by becoming the world’s first trillion dollar company, and that’s a milestone they’ve achieved without much help from gambling apps. The massive tech giant and its ubiquitous iPhone have never been considered the most gambling friendly tech ecosystem and recent blunder in their vaunted App Store proves why.
Late last week, at the behest of the Norwegian government, Apple took a chainsaw to gambling apps that it decided were operating in violation of Norwegian gaming laws. The only problem with Apple’s big Scandinavian gambling app purge is that it impacted a whole lot of apps that have a whole lot of nothing to do with gambling.
Among the wrongfully removed apps, and no one knows how many were actually removed, were a Polish magazine and an app that allows X Box players to share their greatest moments with friends. Developers of the wrongfully removed apps were, rightly, upset by Apple’s actions.
Simon Stovring, a Copenhagen-based developer who produces a gif-sharing app that was caught up in the purge, told the BBC:
Apple says these apps contain gambling but they don’t reveal how they have detected this. It seems like an unfortunate but honest mistake.
Stovring’s soft-pedaling of Apple’s mistake isn’t surprising given the power that Apple has over merchants and developers in its App Store. Besides appealing Apple’s decision, these folks are pretty powerless against the tech giant.
While some of the wrongly removed apps have been restored, Apple has not issued any statement on how many apps remain purged from its Scandinavian-facing app ecosystem.