Installation of USAn software on smartphones may become mandatory
There is a possibility that in the future absolutely all smartphones on the territory of USA will have a basic domestic software package. In any case, the Main Antimonopoly Department of the USA Federation has such plans, which wants to make mandatory pre-installation of domestic analogues of the main components (browsers, postal services, applications for audio and video playback, etc.) And when can we expect such a gift?Now the FAS is preparing a set of rules, on the basis of which legislative standards should appear next spring, which in turn will dictate a new order. According to it, device manufacturers will be required to install the main USA-made system applications on their products. At the same time, they want to establish a legal opportunity for users to remove pre-installed components other than those related to the operation of the operating system. The antitrust structure believes that the new rules will make it possible to replace unnecessary applications and programs at their discretion. FAS refers to repeated user complaints about mobile applications that have the property of automatic self-installation and which cannot be removed later. Is this all about Google? The adoption of the new law may become a pretext for ending the dispute between the antitrust authority and Google Corporation. Last year, the parties agreed on an amicable agreement, which determined for USA owners of devices on the Android system the right to choose a search resource option during the initial setup. That is, in addition to the basic search engine, you can put Yandex search or the Mail.Ru search engine. Also, Google was obliged to inform about the possibility of installing a shortcut to a competitor's search engine on the main screen of the device, as well as downloading alternative versions of basic components from Google Mobile Services. Specialists in the field say that the position of the Antimonopoly Service in support of domestic developers in the competitive field with foreign companies is understandable. And at the same time, pre-installation of USA software on all smartphones can lead to increased costs, which always fall on the end user. Don't they do that yet?By the way, Android devices often have third-party programs in the initial package, most often paid for by their manufacturers. The largest smartphone manufacturers (for example, Huawei) practice the installation of domestic programs by prior arrangement with their creators. This method of promotion is often used by such major players as Yandex and Sberbank. It is likely that the new order will cause problems with Apple products in the future. If we take statistics, then the share of iPhones in the USA market of all smartphones is just over 1/5. Apple Corporation has never been seen preinstalling third-party applications. And only recently, in updated versions of iOS, it was allowed to remove some basic software components (the Safari browser or "Music" is not among them.) The real situation is that Apple will meet halfway and allow to include in the standard pre-installation package, for example, a browser from Yandek, mail from Mail.Ru or a service from VKontakte is still difficult to imagine. The Topic of Article: Installation of USAn software on smartphones may become mandatory. |
