Russian Law Demands Smartphones, Laptops To Have Pre-Installed Russian Apps
The Russian government is working to get a tighter grasp of the internet in its nation while also reducing reliance on foreign conglomerates and nations.
A few months ago, reports surfaced that Russia has passed legislation to force devices sold in the nation to be preloaded with Russian apps in order to help Russian IT companies to compete against foreign competitors, and now that legislation has finally come into force.
Reuters
Reported first by Reuters, the Russian government is working to get a tighter grasp of the internet in its nation while also reducing reliance on foreign conglomerates and nations.
Also Read: You Are Worried Because FaceApp Is Russian, But How Many Apps In Your Phone Are Really Indian?
The new Russian law will be applicable to devices like smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, laptops as well as computers that are manufactured after 1st April, 2021.
One company that wasn¡¯t really happy with this new legislation was Apple, which is also one of the most popular foreign brands in the nation. Apple wasn¡¯t budging from preloading its devices with Russian software as it was against its policy. However, eventually, it gave up last month and enabled a way to allow users to install Russian software during the initial iPhone setup.
Reuters
Apple has stated that it would offer a series of apps from Russian developers in its activation screens for new devices. It further stated that it is willing to comply with the new Russian legislation, however, it iterated the fact that the Russian apps must ensure their compliance with Apple¡¯s standards for privacy and security.
The legislation has made a list of Russian apps that it wants to be preloaded on the devices. These include browsers, navigation apps, payments apps as well as search apps.
Also Read: Putin's Building A Separate Internet For Russia, So He Can Control It Better Just Like China
Authorities have highlighted the fact that the Russian preinstalled apps should be in the same categories as foreign apps, "Russian apps from the pre-installation list should be placed next to other programmes of the same class: both from the same category next to each other on the same screen of the device."
Reuters
Apart from this, numerous other measures are in the works including asking foreign IT companies to open offices in Russia as well as tax breaks for Russian IT companies.
