Apple coughs up 7 hours of profit to refund kids' $32.5m app buying spree

zaax

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/15/ftc_apple_in_app_purchases_settlement/

Although this is USA law, a UK judge may look to other countries for guidence, these 'in-app' purchases are also covered in the new Coonsumer Regulations that come into force in June.

frugal_mike

zaax wrote: »

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/15/ftc_apple_in_app_purchases_settlement/

Although this is USA law, a UK judge may look to other countries for guidence, these 'in-app' purchases are also covered in the new Coonsumer Regulations that come into force in June.

The key to the Apple case appeared to be the confusing nature of the parental controls.
For example it was possible to authorise a payment on an account with a parental lock, but it was not clear that this would allow an indefinite number of payments for a 15 minute period.

I'm not sure this confusing nature is true for the xbox threads on here recently.

jkkne

That article doesn't mention that Apple chose to settle rather than avoid a protracted legal battle

I agree with the above, XBox and PSN could not be more clearer than you are spending money. Same with Android.

InsideInsurance

Not being a gamer, I cannot say what Xbox or Playstation does but Apple did make it clear at the time you are spending money the issue is all around the 15 minute duration of the parental authorisation. The parent could authorise one thing, give it to the kid and for the next 15 minutes the kids could buy anything they wanted.

The iOS has since been changed to allow users to turn off the 15 minute allowance plus a host of other parental type controls

transient

It is immaterial how many hours worth of profit it is they are paying

DCFC79

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Not being a gamer, I cannot say what Xbox or Playstation does but Apple did make it clear at the time you are spending money the issue is all around the 15 minute duration of the parental authorisation. The parent could authorise one thing, give it to the kid and for the next 15 minutes the kids could buy anything they wanted.

The iOS has since been changed to allow users to turn off the 15 minute allowance plus a host of other parental type controls

I cant say for PSN but on the xbox the cost is detailed before you download the game etc, it says something like Cost and next to it is a price or it will say Free.

WTFH

Don't give your children apple devices. If they want a phone to play games on, go for a Samsung. Far better.

...also, I hope they out up the price of the games now so that the parents understand that their greed and irresponsibility is the reason behind it.

arcon5

Two words

Parental responsibility

InsideInsurance

DCFC79 wrote: »

I cant say for PSN but on the xbox the cost is detailed before you download the game etc, it says something like Cost and next to it is a price or it will say Free.

Same as it is in iPhone then. Any in game/ app purchase will also bring up a standard window saying Please confirm you want to buy X at £Y with a Cancel and Buy button.

With the iPhone before the changes (and even now by default) if you press the Buy button it checks your status. If you have authorised another payment in the last 15 minutes it automatically goes through. If you havent then it asks you for your password to authorise it. You can now remove the 15 minute window via settings

The issues have therefore come about because a parent authorises something and the kids then keep hitting the buy button to get extra lives in a game or such. As many of these have been pre-teens they arguably arent going to really realise they are racking up hundreds of pounds of bills and parents say it isnt their fault because they didnt know about the 15 minute window.

tomwakefield

arcon5 wrote: »

Two words

Parental responsibility

I don't think this is lack of parental responsibility necessarily. There is a password required to purchase goods. Presumably the kid asks the parent "can I buy this, it's only $1.99", parent says yes, puts in the password and gives it back to the kid. Kid can now make as many purchases as they like for 15 minutes, and I don't entirely blame the parents for not realising this (I would have expected a password to be required every time).

Some of the blame would have to go to Apple, for not allowing this option (and it's good that they now have). And a lot to the kid for spending lots of money (I don't believe that none of these kids understood that it was real money being spent).

InsideInsurance

tomwakefield wrote: »

I don't believe that none of these kids understood that it was real money being spent

Especially not the mid/late teenagers