Tim Hardwick, at MacRumors:
Russian President Vladimir Putin today signed new legislation requiring all smartphones, computers, and smart TVs sold in the country to come pre-installed with Russian software, reports Reuters.
…
Responding to today’s news of the law, an unnamed Apple source reportedly told the Kommersant business daily: “A mandate to add third-party applications to Apple’s ecosystem would be equivalent to jailbreaking. It would pose a security threat, and the company cannot tolerate that kind of risk.”
Apple has to draw a line in the sand. This isn’t a 50/50 decision: once you compromise your platform for one authoritarian regime, you might as well do it for them all.
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