“Officially, Apple has no presence in Iran. Because of American sanctions against the country, the company’s iPhones are not legally available for sale here, and Apple does not offer a version of its App Store in the country,” Thomas Erdbrink And Vindu Goel report for The New York Times. “That has not stopped Iranians from snapping up millions of iPhones smuggled in from places like Dubai and Hong Kong. Nor has it kept Iranian app developers from creating thousands of apps for local users and offering them through App Stores outside Iran.”
“Now, Apple is moving aggressively to shut down Iranian apps,” Erdbrink and Goel report. “On Thursday, Apple removed Snapp, a ride-hailing app similar to Uber that is popular in Iran, from its app stores. That followed the removal in recent weeks of apps for food delivery, shopping and other services.”
“In a message to Iranian developers whose apps were affected by the ban, Apple said, ‘Under the U.S. sanctions regulations, the App Store cannot host, distribute or do business with apps or developers connected to certain U.S. embargoed countries,'” Erdbrink and Goel report. “Apple told Iranian developers in February to remove any payment options in their apps to prevent Iranian money from entering the United States in violation of the sanctions… Iran’s new telecommunications minister, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, complained on Twitter about Apple’s decision to remove the apps and said he was planning to pursue the issue. Mr. Azari Jahromi wrote in Persian that ’11 percent of the cellphone market in Iran belongs to Apple.’ He added: ‘Respecting customer rights is a principle today that Apple hasn’t abided by. We will legally pursue the omission of apps.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Certainly Apple should abide by the current U.S. sanctions.