Shops Without Borders – Kommersant

The Mintsifra bill, which would oblige Apple to open its phones to install applications from third-party stores, will not only affect this company. According to Kommersant, the ban on “discrimination” of applications will be extended simultaneously to system owners, phone manufacturers and operators of large application stores. Manufacturers and retailers of electronics fear that excessive regulation will lead to the growth of the gray market, and experts do not rule out the closure of regional stores from Apple and Google in response to new measures.

“Kommersant” learned the details of the upcoming bill of the Ministry of Digital Development, which proposes to oblige developers of mobile platforms to allow the installation of mobile applications from external sources. The interlocutor of Kommersant, who is familiar with the development of the relevant bill, said that the norm will affect all owners of mobile operating systems and device manufacturers; Mintsifra confirmed that the developed norms will affect “not only Apple”.

According to the source, companies will be prohibited from restricting the installation of applications from third-party sources and create “discriminatory conditions” for applications installed in this way – in particular, in the area of ​​​​access to settings, payments, updates and sending notifications. Also, manufacturers, according to the bill, will not have to limit the user’s ability to remove applications.

Apple and Google, despite the suspension of activities in Russia, continue to operate regional app stores (Google – without the ability to update and buy paid applications). In 2022, on Android, the only system that allows you to install alternative stores, RuStore (develops VK under the auspices of the Ministry of Digital Development), NashStore (ANO Digital Platforms), RuMarket (released by the current CEO of the Bibi taxi aggregator in Russia Anatoly Smorgonsky) and AppBazar (MTS) appeared ).

The bill, according to a Kommersant source, will also include owners of app stores with an audience of 10 million people a month or more. The audience of the RuStore store in Russia among Android users over 12 years old was exactly 10 million, Kommersant was told on VK according to Mediascope Cross Web (Mediascope confirmed the information). It is assumed that the sites will have to provide free access to applications and their installation on an equal footing. It is assumed that the list of application stores will be maintained by Roskomnadzor. The department told Kommersant that they had not received the bill.

Vladimir Zykov, director of NashStore project activities, believes that the bill will create opportunities for the development of the entire segment of mobile app stores. RuMarket, however, said that the practice of implementing both DMA and the upcoming Russian norms will depend on Apple: “Most likely, the company will dictate the terms for alternative app stores.” VK did not answer questions about the bill, MTS declined to comment.

Since phones intended by the manufacturer for other markets are imported into Russia, their falling under Russian law should be assessed by account region, says Pavel Golub, co-founder of Arcsinus digital platform development company: “So far, the App Store and Google Play have Russian segments, and they should correspond to regional peculiarities”. He believes that increased regulation could increase the likelihood that Apple and Google will close them, but “this option is still unlikely.”

Representative of RATEK (combines Samsung, Huawei, M.Video-Eldorado and others) Anton Guskov said that excessive regulation usually leads to an increase in the gray segment of the economy: “What cannot be sold legally begins to flow to markets that are dubious from the point of view of legality and internet channels. And the legal segment is simply decreasing.”

Yuri Litvinenko, Yulia Tishina