Users of Apple Inc’s iPhone and iPad now get a seven-day free trial on application software purchased through Apple’s App Store, Taipei City Government’s Law and Regulation Commission said yesterday after the company informed the commission it had established the new mechanism.
Apple yesterday announced the new mechanism on its Taiwanese App Store Web site, saying customers could return application software for a full refund within seven days of purchase. Customers who return the apps will no longer be authorized to use them.
Yeh Ching-yuan (葉慶元), director of the commission, applauded the new mechanism and said the seven-day free trial mechanism is only available for customers in Taiwan.
“This is a victory for customers in Taiwan and the commission will continue with its efforts to defend the rights of customers,” he said.
The commission had demanded that Apple and Google Inc start offering a seven-day free trial period for customers in accordance with the Consumer Protection Act (消保法), which requires a free trial period of at least seven days for items purchased on the Web because consumers cannot touch the goods they have purchased.
On June 4, the city government gave both companies a 15-day grace period to revise their app sales and service provisions to include a seven-day free trial mechanism, and Apple complied with the request.
Google was fined NT$1 million (US$34,550) by the city government last month for refusing to cooperate and it then removed the paid app section from its online store in Taiwan.
Google sent its Android policy counsel to discuss the issue with the commission on June 30 and agreed to make a final decision by yesterday on whether to cooperate with the city government.
Yeh said the commission had not heard from Google since the meeting last month and the commission would discuss whether to fine the company again if it still refuses to comply with the request.
“We expect Google to follow Apple’s lead and give us a positive response on the matter,” Yeh said.
NOVEMBER ELECTIONS: The KMT urged the CECC to exclude Taiwanese from the arrivals cap, as they would lose their right to vote if they could not return by July 26 The COVID-19-related border control measures and the cap on the number of international arrivals are not being eased, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday as it reported 112 imported cases of the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 of SARS-CoV-2. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is CECC spokesperson, said a meeting was held yesterday morning in which the Cabinet decided that current border control measures would remain in place. He said the main considerations were global COVID-19 cases increasing 21 percent last week, imported cases of Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 continuing to be detected
Samsung Electronics Co yesterday commenced mass production of 3-nanometer chips that are more powerful and efficient than predecessors, beating rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to a key milestone in the race to build the most advanced chips in the world. South Korea’s largest company said in a statement that it was beginning with 3-nanometer semiconductors for high-performance and specialized low-power computing applications before expanding to mobile processors. By applying so-called Gate-All-Around transistor architecture, Samsung’s 3-nanometer products reduce power consumption by up to 45 percent and improve performance by 23 percent compared with 5-nanometer chips, it said. Samsung’s push to be first
Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung (張學友) has been criticized by the “Little Pink” — a term used to describe young, jingoistic Chinese nationalists on the Web — for saying “Hong Kong jia you [加油, an expression of encouragement].” To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule on Friday, China Central Television made a series of programs in which it interviewed Cheung and other celebrities. Cheung, speaking in Cantonese, said in the interview that “Hong Kong has been through a lot in the past 25 years, including ups and downs” and ended with the phrase “Hong
FLASH POINT: The ministry said it was aware of Chinese and Russian warships being detected in waters near the disputed islands and was closely monitoring the situation The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday reaffirmed the nation’s sovereignty claim over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) after Japan, which controls the islands in the East China Sea, accused Chinese and Russian warships of operating near the disputed islands. “It is an indisputable fact that the Diaoyutai Islands are an inherent part of the territory of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Any unilateral action taken by other parties will not change the fact,” ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said. Citing the government’s stance in calling on all parties concerned to resolve disputes in a peaceful manner, Ou said the government was aware of
RSS