You might not like Apple’s walled garden, but it’s pretty much irrelevant to this story. In fact Skype has been removed from the Android stores as well so the

You might not like Apple’s walled garden, but it’s pretty much irrelevant to this story. In fact Skype has been removed from the Android stores as well so the non-walled gardens aren’t faring better. Also, since this class of apps is about communication, the app stores are just a side-skirmish in the war for control. The real power is in controlling the network, which the Chinese government does (and Apple does not). That brings us back to the real problem here: the repressive control of speech and communication by the Chinese government. The relative openess of tech ecosystems means little in an environment of a repressive, controlling government. They only put “Apple” in the headline for the clicks.