“It’s a fight that is going on for some time. Apple, the maker of the iPhone, and TRAI, the agency that regulates telecom networks in India, are in middle of the bitter fight over the matter of SPAM calls and messages,” Javed Anwer reports for India Today. “Now, with a new regulatory policy TRAI has hinted that if Apple doesn’t step back and allow a TRAI app on the iPhone, it is possible that the agency may ask telecom companies like Airtel, Vodafone and Jio to delist and deregister the iPhone from their networks.”
“The issue is related to an app that TRAI has created,” Anwer reports. “The agency has made an app called DND — now called DND 2.0 after the latest update — but Apple has refused to allow this app in the iOS App Store. Apple believes that the TRAI app, because it seeks the call and message records of a user, is a privacy risk.”
“On Thursday, TRAI published a set of new regulations that mandates that all smartphone users in the country should be able to install the DND 2.0 app on their phones, whether they are using an iPhone or an Android phone. The directions, though are given to telecom companies and not the phone makers, who do not fall under the purview of TRAI,” Anwer reports. “If Apple continues to resist DND 2.0 app from TRAI, and not permit it entry in the iOS App Store, all the iPhones in India may lose access to 3G, 4G or even basic telecom networks.”
“While the TRAI directive looks stark, it is also possible that some middle ground will be found. Apple doesn’t want to dilute the kind of privacy — which is better than what Android phones offer to their users — that the iPhone users have. And the company is very clear that it cannot allow any app, even one created by a government agency to access call and message logs,” Anwer reports. “It is possible that the upcoming iOS 12 could be the middle ground. In the iOS 12, Apple has put in new features that use smart algorithms and machine learning to identify and block spam messages. It is possible that Apple may take an exception from TRAI and the Indian government for DND 2.0 by showing them that the iPhone already reduces spam with the iOS 12.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: TRIA bureaucrats clearly do not understand how iOS works or why it’s important for Apple to protect users’ privacy. If users want to share phone numbers and other sources to block, then they can do so on their own. No third-party app should be able to access such data willy-nilly. It’s blatantly insecure – which is why it’s no problem for Google to allow TRAI’s privacy-trampling POS in their Android store and also why Apple will never allow it in the App Store.
SEE ALSO:
Apple accused of ‘anti-consumer’ behavior by Indian regulator – August 8, 2017
I poop on TRAI
TRAI harder!
Who cares Apple should pull the plug on India.
“pull the plug” on a large percentage of the world’s population. Your business wisdom is astounding.
India is a financial monster waiting to be unleashed. Pulling plug on India would be incredibly foolish.
If AAPL can find a was to work with a communist country’s req, they surely can find a way to work with India…hopefully w/o “owning” the privacy compromise.
India is a loss cause, just like those call support centers, or the on site plotter support people who come by once a month.
Exactly what i have been saying all along, Apple should get the hell out of India and should never been there in the first place. India is a bad and very over rated market and Apple dont need any more profits
You’re so right Rob. Apple should immediately write off one-sixth of the planet’s population because one bureaucrat is a dumbass.
Who cares if India gives iPhone the boot? India is pretty much a lost cause for Apple. No point in Tim Cook kissing Indian buttocks to sell a million iPhones. Android owns India for the near future and that fact will likely never change in my lifetime. If Indian consumers can only afford $100 Android smartphones, Apple can’t change that.
The news media talks as though India banning the iPhone will be some huge loss for Apple. I see no point in Apple selling their product at a loss for the sake of gaining market share. Because Google isn’t very particular about privacy, TRAI’s DND app is quite suitable for Android smartphones.
Wow! This is rich! I literally laughed out loud while reading this one.
*India* wants to protect their people from spam? What about the spam they send out to the rest of the world?!
[smh]
From what I’ve read, this app generally lets you send complaints to the regulator for getting inappropriate spam calls and texts.
Why don’t they just bake the services into iOS like they do with social media integration? That way they don’t need to let a third party developer have deeper access to the OS and can have control over the process while implementing the system as the app would’ve done otherwise?
Apple has bent over backwards to get a foothold in China, so the contrast is interesting.