South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has ordered both Apple and Google to revise their “no refund” app store policies, and its clauses.
The story came to light in a report in the Korea Herald, which also says that Apple has provided a response to the ruling, in which it said that it would consider revising App Store policy worldwide.
The report says that Google had volunteered to remove its clauses before the government orders, and would design a customer refund system, whereas Apple will send a notice to users using its App Store when it changes the terms.
The Commission’s Hwang Won-Chul said: “Google will limit its response to the FTC to the domestic market,” but intriguingly, suggested Apple would go further: “Apple said it would consider applying the revised contract terms globally”.
Under current policy elsewhere, Apple doesn’t offer an easy route to getting a refund for apps. However, refunds have been known to be given on a case-by-case basis. Users have received these by going via the “Report a Problem” system in iTunes Support.