The Digital Ministry expects to negotiate with Samsung and Apple about installing RuStore on gadgets sold in the Russian Federation
The Digital Ministry expects to negotiate with Samsung and Apple about installing the domestic RuStore application store on devices sold in Russia. This was announced by the Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Communications, Maksut Shadayev.
Currently, all Samsung and Apple products are supplied to the Russian Federation as part of parallel imports in accordance with the list approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
“We believe that we have prospects to negotiate with all manufacturers of devices that do not import them as part of parallel imports. We also hope that we will reach an agreement with Samsung and Apple,” said Shadayev.
He confirmed that Samsung will offer the scheme currently used on Apple devices, where apps are offered based on the region of use. Shadayev noted that Apple continues to fulfill its obligations to install other Russian applications.
“Now we are discussing the expansion with them while their first package is being installed,” the minister said. He emphasized that, according to the Ministry of Digital, “for 75% of devices, these pre-installation requirements are fulfilled now”, the issue of RuStore will be discussed in the near future.
“We hope that we will come to an agreement with device manufacturers, with vendors, so that it is immediately installed at the factory,” he said.
According to the Ministry of Digitization, the installation of RuStore on already imported devices by retailers by “opening the boxes” will lead, firstly, to the fact that such a device “most likely immediately flies out of warranty, if we are talking about phones that are not imported within parallel import”. Also, “there is a question of some security here.” In addition, it will require additional costs for retailers.
The Ministry of Statistics also believes that “users probably won’t want to buy such a phone.” “And even if they buy such a phone, they will obviously return to the factory settings, because it is not transparent to them what a specific engineer has installed in a specific (retail) network,” Shadayev said.
At the end of August, the press service of the government reported that pre-installation of the Russian application store RuStore on devices sold in the Russian Federation will be mandatory even in the event of a ban or restriction by the right holder of the operating system or affiliated structures.
Rosspozhivnadzor said that responsibility for the sale of devices without the mandatory RuStore application store will be borne by both their manufacturers and sellers who allowed such products to be sold.