According to the report, India’s Department of Telecommunications is giving phone makers 90 days to comply with the order to pre-install a state-owned app on new phones and push it to existing phones through software updates. reutersAccording to this, the government order was sent privately to phone manufacturers on November 28, reutersWhich includes Apple, Samsung, Vivo, OPPO and Xiaomi.
In August, Russia issued a similar order requiring phone makers to preload the state-backed messenger app, Max.
In this case, the state-owned Sanchar Saathi app is already available on the App Store and Google Play Store, but this order will make it mandatory and prevent it from being disabled or removed. The app includes features to block and track lost or stolen phones based on IMEI and report suspected fraudulent messages.
While iOS users still make up a small share of the pie in India, Apple’s sales in the region hit a record high of $9 billion in September. Similarly, Google began offering direct online sales of Pixel phones in India earlier this year and both companies have increased local manufacturing of their mobile devices in recent years. Apple and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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