The Android Market does not fall in line with Taiwan consumer protection laws.
As a result, Google has been forced to disable the digital marketplace and been asked to come up with a solution that will accommodate the country’s law.
In question is the government’s requirement that all software and applications sold through digital download must give users the option of getting a free trial before they pay for the full item.
Because the Android Market doesn’t have any sort of free-trial option, Taiwan slapped Google with a $35,000 fine per the terms of its law. As a result, Google took the service offline.
It is not immediately clear how the online giant plans to respond. Google did not confirm whether or not it was willing to comply with the Taiwan measure.
Google used to offer a free trial of sorts, giving Android users a confirmed, no-questions-asked refund if they requested it within 24 hours of buying an app. However, now the time limit is just 15 minutes.
Neither one complied with the laws of Taiwan, however, which requires digital download products to have a week-long free trial option.
It’s because of these differing legal environments that Android services vary around the world, and many other countries have no Android Market service either, even though there may be perfectly good data connections available.
