Phones, PCs sold in Russia may have Russian apps pre installed

Aiming to protect Russian software firms from being "abused" by foreign technology companies, the Russian Parliament is now mulling to bring a bill that will force all electronic equipment sold in the country, including smartphones, computers and smart TVs, to ship with apps from Russian tech firms pre installed in them.

If the bill is approved, the Russian government will publish a list of electronic devices that will need to comply with this new law. However, devices that don't run a complex operating system OS or custom software will be exempted.

According to lawmakers, "the bill will protect the interests of Russian Internet companies and will reduce the abuse by large foreign companies, working in the field of information technology", ZDNet reported recently.

The government will also publish, per each device type, a list of Russian software that equipment vendors will need to include on devices sold in Russia.

The firms who fail to comply would be eligible for fines of up to 200,000 rubles or roughly $3,100, and an eventual ban, following repeated offences, the report added.
IANS