Russia Sues Apple for Not Pre-Installing Local Apps on iPhone
Russian regulators are throwing another temper tantrum because Apple won't force-feed government-approved software to iPhone users.
Russian antitrust regulators officially opened an enforcement case against Apple after the tech giant refused to force-feed domestic apps onto every iPhone sold in the country.
While Apple did roll out a software update allowing users to select a local search engine by default, officials are furious that the company completely ignored mandates to pre-install Russia's national messenger, sovereign app store, and default services on iOS devices.
Having missed the regulator's strict deadline, Apple now faces a potential fine of up to 4 billion rubles for committing the ultimate sin of keeping sovereign bloatware off its phones.
To make matters even spicier, Apple actually removed the domestic messenger app Max from the App Store entirely, leaving direct links returning dead end errors.
Bureaucrats truly believe that threatening a company that officially pulled out of their market with billion-ruble fines will magically force custom software onto hardware they do not control.
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