Nica Osorio for International Business Times:
Russian President Vladimir Putin [has] signed new legislation requiring all computers, smartphones, and smart TVs sold in Russia to be released with pre-installed Russian software, Reuters reports. The authors of the latest Russian law claim that it will help the country’s developers to compete with foreign tech companies. However, for the Cupertino-based tech titan, the new law is equivalent to jailbreaking.
The new law will be in effect starting Jul. 1, 2020… the new law triggered fears that Russia could utilize the pre-installed software as a means to spay on its citizens. At this point, it is not yet clear how other tech and electronic firms would react to the latest legislation. Apple has already stated that it will pull out of the Russian market if the country would launch a total ban on selling its products without the pre-installed Russian software, according to Russian media earlier this year.
MacDailyNews Take: The new Russian law include smartphones, computers, tablets, laptops, smart TVs, and other electronic devices. Apple – and every other company with a backbone – should pull out of Russia until this law is rescinded. It’ll take about a day for Russian consumers to revolt over having only absolute crap phones, tablets, laptops, TVs, etc. available to them. Putin et al. need to lay off the vodka.