PRESS: Govt drafts bill to oblige mobile platforms host alien apps

MOSCOW, Apr 26 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Digital Development Ministry intends to oblige developers of mobile platforms to allow third parties’ applications in a regulation that will apply not only to Apple, business daily Kommersant reported on Wednesday.

A source told the daily that all the owners of mobile operating systems and manufacturers of devices will be subject to the regulation.

The source said the companies will be forbidden to restrict installation of applications from third party sources and create discriminatory terms for such applications, in particular, in access to settings, payments, updates, and notifications.

The initiative will also ban manufacturers to deprive the user of the option to delete applications.

The daily said that electronics makers and sellers fear that excessive regulation would feed the growth of the gray market, and experts did not rule out that Apple and Google may shut their local stores, which they still manage despite halting their operations in Russia.

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