Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has closed the last remaining iPhone mobile application that enabled users to buy and sell Bitcoin. BlockChain was the last application, and by now it has been downloaded 120000 times by the users to hold and spend Bitcoins.
Apple planning own payment system
According to BlockChain chief executive Nicolas Cary, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has taken the step as a precautionary measure to safeguard the mobile payment system it is developing. “It’s well known that Apple is developing its own payment system,” he said. “They are building a walled garden to interfere with innovation.” Apple did not comment on the issue.
The latest report from the Wall Street Journal said that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has stepped up efforts to create proprietary systems that will allow users to make payments with an iPhone.
Prior to this, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) had shut down all the Bitcoin related apps. For Bitcoin, the decision from Apple comes as a blow because the digital currency is struggling to gain the approval and support of regulators and governments all around the globe. Users who already have the app in their mobiles can use it as before, but there will not be any upgrade in the app or other updates from the store.
Apple’s decision “anti-competitive”
The iPhone maker sent an email to BlockChain detailing that the app has been closed from the App store due to an unresolved issue. Cary said that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) did not inform of the closure of the app previously, and the app remained unmodified since it got authorization for the store two years ago.
BlockChain termed Apple’s decision as “anti-competitive” and “censorship”. BlockChain makes Bitcoin cost effective and a competitive threat to traditional finance facilities. BlockChain’s business development executive Roger Ver sealed the news that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has removed the last remaining Bitcoin wallet from the app store. Ver lamented that the Apple people never told them the issue behind closing the app.
“There was no notice, they sent a formal email to say your app has been removed due to ‘unresolved issues’ – that’s the phrasing that they used,” Ver said.
Ver said that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) made a one-sided decision to remove wallet app. Bemoaning the ban; Ver said “A native app is a cleaner, easier user experience than doing something through a web browser.” He added that Apple would realize its mistake and change the policy accordingly.
Before BlockChain, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) removed digital wallets like Coinbase and Coinjar from its download store.
