Who’s To Blame For Apple’s China Closure?

Apple's iTunes and iBook users in China the past few days have been unable to access their accounts and data online.

Apple's streaming music service Apple Music is available in the country, though.

The sudden stoppage has been reported by non-Chinese media as a government reaction to Apple's placement of a movie critical of China on its Hong Kong iTunes store. Neither Apple nor the Chinese government have confirmed who is to blame for the outage or why Apple's services are specifically targeted.

Chinese media are interestingly reporting the news slightly differently. Technology news on Sina.com, for example, states that "Apple recently closed its iTunes Movies and iBooks Store services in China", which subtly places the blame of the inaccessibility on Apple itself.

A representative from Apple said that they hope the book and movie services can be restored for the Chinese users soon; however, the representative refused to reveal further information. So it is still unclear if Apple pulled the plug prior to perhaps facing a harsh penalty or if it too was surprised by the block.

Apple introduced its music, book, and movie content services to mainland China in September 2015, aiming to provide complete user experience in this marketplace.