Chinese Apple fans can‘t buy apps on the AppStore unless they can pay with an international credit card in U.S. dollars. 

FruitNinja, one of the most popular apps for Apple mobile devices, sells for US$0.99 (about 6.39 yuan) on the App Store. But on many Chinese websites, the software can be downloaded for less than $0.15 (1 yuan), the National Business Daily reported.

Other popular apps such as GuitarToolkit, Plunderland and GalaxyonFire2 can also be found much cheaper on other Web sites, often at one-sixth of their App Store price.

Hot apps are widely available for sale on Chinese retail sites. A search for FruitNinja on Taobao.com, China‘s leading e-commerce platform, returned more than 2,600 hits.

The apps on the unofficial sites are often sold using gift certificates from Apple Inc. sent by e-mail, an online shopkeeper said. Consumers often get free gift tickets from Apple Inc. after they buy Apple products. These can then be sold on the market.

Other stores make use of another loophole: Users can download an Apple app an unlimited number of times after they buy it in the AppStore. So some buyers share their user accounts with others to make money, said Zhang Zhiming, head of a Shanghai-based IT company.

Chinese Apple fans can‘t buy apps on the AppStore unless they can pay with an international credit card in U.S. dollars. For Apple users without these cards, unauthorized sites offer a way around this barrier.

Apple China declined to comment on illegal app downloads in the country.

据《每日经济新闻》报道，一款名为FruitNinja的游戏在苹果（中国）AppStore上售价0.99美元（约合6.39元人民币），在部分网店售价甚至不到1元人民币。

此外，热门游戏GuitarToolkit、Plunderland与GalaxyonFire2等也以低至原价1/6的价格出售。

很多热门的苹果应用软件都可以在网店上找到。在淘宝上输入“水果忍者”，可以搜到相关宝贝2600多件。

一位销售苹果app的淘宝网店店主向记者透露：app主要来源于苹果公司内部流出的礼品券，以电子邮件方式进行传送交易。这些礼品券基本上都是购买苹果旗下商品回送的代金券。

此外，在AppStore上，一个消费者在开通账户并付费购买了一款应用后，原则上便可以无限次地下载这个应用。由于利益驱使，一些人便将账户共享给购买者使用，上海一家信息技术公司负责人张志明指出，

部分网友通过代购方式购买了AppStore内的应用程序。这些网友之所以要代购，是因为苹果AppStore只接受国际信用卡美元付款。

对于苹果应用在国内遭遇违规交易，苹果中国公关部表示“对此事暂不予评价”。