Wait apple is still operating in Russia? Weren’t we sanctioning them or something?
this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2024
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TL;DR: they stopped selling hardware in Russia, but people still find a way to import it.
It also looks like they are still maintaining Russia’s region in the AppStore.
I can understand smuggled hardware, but it’s not like Russians can buy their localized App Store in India.. it would be much more helpful if they weren’t running it there, as the smuggled iPhones would be just bricks
Thing is, if they kill the App Store entirely, they also fuck over Russians that already have iPhones and are fleeing the country, and or dissenting the government.
Looks like they’re trying to leave as much of the App Store as available as possible. That said, at some point the government censorship will become so bad that they might need to pull the plug entirely.
And that said, if they allowed proper side loading, this wouldn’t be an issue. They could just peace out entirely.
Maybe if Apple was giving it away or donating the money from the sales, but as it is they are just profiting off it.
We are but not like that lol
Eitherway sanctions is just increased cost of doing business, ie they don't stop good business.
We are but not like that lol
IE. Not effectively.
I'm not an Apple person but IIRC their appstore is functional for already purchased and free apps. New purchases, as well as import of devices, are done via various grey schemes like via currencies and borders of third countries. I can't recall news about someone getting individually banned for that, but some opportunistic foreign banks closed their doors to rubles fearing sanctions. Official stores are closed, but I guess their repair\replace services are still operated but without a connection to the Apple themselves. There were also services to install non-Appstore banking clients and government's services via some loopholes. At the same time, except for the app in the OP, some apps can choose not to be availiable in a select country on their own.
I guess Apple did the formal exit and then stopped to care. It's not operating in Russia per se, but it operates in other countries with entities barely passing as legal consumers and resellers. They still get their profits as usual, and these interlayer smugglers make big bucks enough to be advertised in every second russian youtube video. Is there then a mechanism to make Apple filter them out?
A bit related news piece: russian gamers cried over Sony limiting Helldivers 2 to select countries, while other russian gamers dunked on them for they have PSN linked to the right country.
The great mighty Apple does not have to follow sanctions. If it hiccups, the US economy does too. Can't have that!
Apologise for the crude description, but sanctions are like masturbation. They make the person doing it feel a little better. That's about it.
Classic stuff, Apple. While I can wrap my head around them sucking off China since that is where all their child labor factories are, playing ball with Russia shows who they are. Glad I switched to an open source OS for my phone.
shows who they are.
A corporation. And when corporations have to make a choice, profit will always come first.
Yeah but sometimes it also feels like they wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire either tho lol just because
Oh no... They WOULD piss on you. Just not to help put out the fire.
How about not having different app stores for every region?
How is that supposed to help? Should apple remove these Apps globally then? Not that governments would stop pressuring to censor.
The real answer is to let people load apps from outside of the App Store.
If you’re going to run an AppStore, you’re going to be subject to the laws of every country, and you’ll have to segment it by region.
The real answer is to let people load apps from outside of the App Store.
Yes!
This has been possible for awhile now
Better not having different regions at all.
yes, that's the goal of the ccp and communism in general. how's that going for the chinese?
That is definitely in no way what so ever a goal of communism. At all. Period. The CCP is not an example of actual communism.
excellent point, so, now let's look at every other institution of communism in the real world so far, russia, cuba, oops, looks like real communism is impossible and that it always, everytime devolves into a more personally and socially restrictive nightmare because human beings aren't able to keep their idealism and their realities working together for any length of time, at all. but but but you say real communism hasn't been tried, but but but i say, real communism is impossible.
Just because terrible people use the LABEL of communism and some LIMITED language to gaslight their populace does not magically make THEM the arbiters of what the ideology of communism means... It has not been practiced because it was terrible POWER REGIMES that created those governments. That is literally the antithesis of the ideology of communism, but no you go ahead and keep listening to people who DEMONSTRATE they're not communist...
You keep choosing to let literally evil people define your world and remain oblivious as to why the world remains evil...
Stop letting evil people twist words, and the words will suddenly make sense, dummy!
The problem is that evil people exist. They always take over these systems
We may be able to have communism one day, but we need an intelligence system in place first that can't be corrupted by evil people, since even if we had the perfect human who avoided all attempts to kill them, well, humans are mortal and the next one may not be as lucky or as good
Wholly agreed. We clearly need a system far more robust than the US's "checks and balances", clearly.
yes, naturally, it's the words, and the ideas behind those words, that are important, not the actual application of those words and ideas. got it. this is a no true scotsman argument.
No, it's pointing out the basic fact of life that peoples' words and actions often do not line up. Especially when talking about politicians.
Yeah!!! Hold everyone accountable to everyone’s rules! You can only get it if literally nobody has a problem with it.
Yeah that sounds great, you’re a real genius
So all the shit banned in China, North Korea, etc. we lose it too then? You fucking moron
I see from your post history, it’s full of great comments. Not sure why your reaction here was so harsh. I hope your day is going okay.
Perhaps I wasn’t clear. I meant have one app store and ignore those governments who want to ban apps.
Also, being able to directly load apps on your devices is way better anyway.
Is that a seal of approval?
They shouldn’t cater to fascist mass murderers. Let the russian ppl be pissed pooty pants took away their apples
Apple pulled out of the country after the invasion of Ukraine, but they left the AppStore up for people with existing hardware. Since they have a walled garden, if they kill the AppStore, they would also be killing access to things that Russian dissenters and refugees would need access to.
The walled garden needs to be destroyed. Compute devices should not be bound to the whims and fancies of their manufacturer. I'm honestly surprised it has gone on so long.
Excuse me??? If not the manufacturer then who? The government????
The walled garden absolutely should not be destroyed because it’s owned by a private company and they see said walled garden as a way to protect their users from scams that plague many android stores.
The compute devices are not bound the whims and fancies of the manufacturer at all, the software made available on the company’s own servers are what is bound to their whims, and rightly so because it’s THEIRS and they’re a PRIVATE COMPANY.
You cannot simply force a company to do what you want simply because you don’t like what they do not allow on their own private store.
Do you think we should force every other goddamn store in America to sell whatever the gov says they should? Or maybe we should leave that to those that own the store.
You’re not forced to use that store, if you don’t like it fuck off.
“Walled garden needs to be destroyed” you’re advocating for a fascist takeover, Apple can remove literally anything they want because it’s their fucking goddamn store. That fact does not mean the “walled garden” should be destroyed, Jesus fucking Christ. Who upvotes these literal brain dead comments
For that they can buy an android for 150$. If they expected protection from Apple,that's on them.
Buy a cheap android burner and profit from side loading and alternative app stores. Simple,yes?
So you want apple to stop its AppStore in Russia but android phones and alternative stores should still be operational there?
They can’t keep it straight with the blind “Apple bad” circlejerk
You can side load all day on any iOS device
Who the fuck is affording iphones in Russia