Apple refuses to approve India’s anti-spam iPhone app
Infuriating the Indian government, Apple says the app — which shares spam and text logs with the national telecom regulator — violates its privacy policy
Bangalore — Apple’s refusal so far to approve the Indian government’s anti-spam iPhone app is infuriating regulators and potentially harming the company’s efforts to sell more products in the country. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has been trying unsuccessfully to get its Do Not Disturb software included in the App Store. The program lets people share spam-call and text-message logs with the agency, which uses the data to alert mobile operators to block the spammers. Apple has said the app violates its privacy policy, according to the regulator. The stand-off could impact Apple’s efforts to expand in India, where half a billion smartphones will be sold by 2020. The California-based company has been in discussions with India’s government to open retail stores and secure permission to sell used iPhones imported into the country. Apple has put forth a long list of demands, including tax breaks and other concessions, to set up manufacturing facilities. "Nobody’s asking Apple...
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