Following pushback from a mandate requiring phones in India to come pre-installed with a state-owned, undeletable app, the government is now saying that the app may be deleted if users choose to do so.
The move, however, is unlikely to change Apple’s refusal to comply with the order. Here are the details.
India says its ‘duty’ is to introduce the app, but users can choose whether to keep it installed
Last week, the Indian government issued a directive requiring smartphone makers to pre-install a state-owned app called Sanchar Saathi.
The Indian government has been promoting Sanchar Saathi as a security app, offering tools to report stolen devices, block a phone’s unique IMEI number with carriers, and report spam or scam phone numbers.
Earlier today, Reuters reported that Apple would not comply with the mandate:
Apple however does not plan to comply with the directive and will tell the government it does not follow such mandates anywhere in the world as they raise a host of privacy and security issues for the company’s iOS ecosystem, said two of the industry sources who are familiar with Apple’s concerns. They declined to be named publicly as the company’s strategy is private.
One of the many sticking points of the mandate was the apparent requirement for the app to be undeletable, in addition to being either pre-installed on new devices or automatically installed via a software update.
Now, the Indian government appears to have softened its stance on the requirement for the app to be undeletable, although it is still apparently requiring it to be pre-installed or auto-installed by manufacturers:
This partial shift is unlikely to change Apple’s stance on the matter, since it doesn’t address the company’s other concerns regarding privacy and security.
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