PRESS: Minister says Apple interested in Russian market, not to quit

MOSCOW, Dec 25 (PRIME) -- Russia’s law on preinstallation of domestic software will not be so detrimental for Apple to force the U.S. company to quit the market, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told in an interview with daily Izvestiya, published on Wednesday.

“I don’t think colleagues will be so much affected to make such unprofitable moves. They are very interested in our market. Sales of smartphones prevail in our country. We have other manufacturers, and they dominate. Not everyone will buy Apple,” Manturov said.

Signed by President Vladimir Putin in early December, the law bans sale of electronics, like smartphones and computers, without preinstalled domestic software from July 1, 2020. The government is to determine a list of such goods and software programs.

A number of experts said earlier that the law could force Apple to leave the market.

Manturov said he uses Samsung and earlier had YotaPhone.

“We duly patented this know-how, nobody has exceeded us. By the way, it’s once again proves high intelligence of developers, but everything stopped because of our market, which did not secure an effective economic model of production of these devices in Russia, they were made in China.”

Production of such phones equipped Russian developers with good experience and the country will resume its efforts to create a new device when ready, the minister said.

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