iPad app Flipboard blocked in China

Flipboard CEO Mike McCue confirmed over the weekend that its popular Flipboard app for the iPad no longer works in China. The company is investigating the problem, but it seems that China is now blocking Flipboard servers from sending data to the Flipboard app. All services, including Facebook, Twitter and RSS, are no longer available to Chinese Flipboard users.

CEO McCue questions whether this is part of China's censorship policy or a way to promote Chinese businesses that clone Flipboard. He says,

"They (the clones) are complete replicas visually," begging the question, "Do the Chinese censor US services to protect their regime or to protect their market?"

Chinese users account for a small percentage of Flipboard users, and this block will prevent the company from further tapping this lucrative market.

[Via TechCrunch]