Enlarge / iBooks and iTunes Movies have apparently been banned in China. (credit: Apple)
Apple's iBooks and iTunes Movies stores were shut down in China last week, according to a new report from The New York Times. The country's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television closed the stores just six months or so after they launched with the government's blessing. Services like Apple Pay and Apple Music are still operating for now, and an Apple spokeswoman told the Times that Apple "hope[s] to make books and movies available again to our customers in China as soon as possible."
The Chinese government is known both for its control and censorship of media and for favoring Chinese tech companies over American ones, something which has hurt sales for the likes of IBM, Qualcomm, and Microsoft. Apple has expended a lot of effort in the last few years to improve its sales in China, most notably inking a high-profile deal with China Mobile that brought the iPhone to China's largest wireless carrier in early 2014.
China is currently Apple's second-largest market after the Americas, and for several quarters it has been by far the fastest-growing territory in which Apple does business. Any moves by the Chinese government to make Apple's platforms less appealing could hurt Apple's growth in a year where iPhone sales are already expected to be flat.
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