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Report: Apple iPhone banned in Russia starting January 1st, 2015

Updated: Nov 11, 2014, 9:08 AM

Alan F.

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Report: Apple iPhone banned in Russia starting January 1st, 2015

UPDATE: It looks like numerous online sources have gotten the story wrong. In short, the actual law that will come into operation on January 1, 2015, demands that cloud data storage that originates from Russia stays in Russia. In other words, companies will be required to have localized cloud servers on the territory of Russia, and this includes Apple (as well as any other company that has anything to do with the cloud). The previous conception, that it's an anti-iPhone law, was completely wrong.

Original post follows below:

According to a report published on Tuesday, Russia will ban the Apple iPhone and Apple iPad beginning on New Year's Day. Honestly, when we first saw the report, we figured that this was due to the same motives that caused a business group to dismantle a memorial to Steve Jobs in St. Petersburg. Instead, it seems that it is iCloud that has Russian authorities concerned.

The new law will ban any device that has the iCloud software inside. The reason is that the data saved in iCloud is not stored locally. The servers employed by Apple are based in the U.S., not Russia. This is not a law that was created to harm Apple specifically, as it applies to all online services including social networks.

Apple could put up a server farm in the country, but that would probably be a bad precedent for the tech titan. Russia could even decide to enforce the ban at the retail level, which also would be bad for Apple. Those in Russia who currently own an iPhone or iPad that supports iCloud, might have to put up with relentless searches from the authorities.

Thanks for the tip!

source: progorod (translated) via GSMDome

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