Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil, reporting for Reuters:
Apple does not plan to comply with a mandate to preload its
smartphones with a state-owned cyber safety app and will
convey its concerns to New Delhi, three sources said, after
the government’s move sparked surveillance concerns and a
political uproar.The Indian government has confidentially ordered companies
including Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi to preload their phones with
an app called Sanchar Saathi, or Communication Partner, within 90
days. The app is intended to track stolen phones, block them and
prevent them from being misused.The government also wants manufacturers to ensure that the app is
not disabled. And for devices already in the supply chain,
manufacturers should push the app to phones via software updates,
Reuters was first to report on Monday. […]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.The second source said Apple does not plan to go to court or take
a public stand, but it will tell the government it cannot follow
the order because of security vulnerabilities. Apple “can’t do
this. Period,” the person said.
To my knowledge, there are no government-mandated apps pre-installed on iPhones anywhere in the world. I’m not even sure how that would work, technically, given that third-party apps have to come from the App Store and thus can’t be installed until after the iPhone is configured and the user signs into their App Store Apple Account.
The app order comes as Apple is locked in a court fight with an
Indian watchdog over the nation’s antitrust penalty law. Apple has
said it risks facing a fine of up to $38 billion in a case.
This is another one of those laws the EU’s DMA, where possible fines are based on a percentage of global revenue. No one in India seems to actually be threatening any such fine, but it’s ludicrous that it’s even possible.
