Comment by rgovostes
5 years ago
The "Apple will preinstall apps for the Russian government" bit is untrue, and has spread around due to shoddy tech journalism. iMore, which repeats the falsehood in the article title[0], includes a translation of a Russian news article:
> The agreements stipulate that the first time Apple is purchased in Russia, the user will see a dialog window when setting up, in which he will be asked to install applications from the government-approved list by default, Vedomosti said. It will be possible to refuse installation, removing ticks in front of certain applications, explains the source of the publication.
So really it is an opt-out list of apps presented at setup, which are downloaded and installed after user confirmation. The apps are, presumably, still subject to iOS security policy.
It's clearly not ideal, and reminds me of the dark years of trying to avoid accidentally installing the Yahoo Toolbar. But it's not as evil as it sounds from the headline, and it would be stupid of Apple to pull out of the Russian market over this (as iMore says they once threatened).
Save your rage for when iMessage encryption is nerfed, and government-approved apps are no longer opt-out.
0: https://www.imore.com/apple-agrees-pre-install-apps-russian-...
This doesn't sound particularly evil to me and seems perfectly in line with the Russian government's intention of reducing its reliance on American tech companies (by nudging consumers in the direction of their domestic alternatives).
IMO, doing this would be a good idea for Europe, too. To some degree laws like the browser choice thing already go in this direction, but they still mostly present American alternatives.