Russia to Develop its own Smartphone Platform

Looks like Russia is finally getting into smartphones and it will only benefit the country if they make a smartphone platform for themselves.

There are many different smartphone platforms these days. Some of them are popular than the others because there are features that other platforms have not yet produced. These days the most popular platforms anyone will find will probably be the iOS platform from Apple and the Android platform from Google.

So if there are users who want access to a ton of apps, then they would either go for Android or iOS. The Russian government is not at all impressed by these platforms and they believe that they can make a platform for themselves.

The Russian Communication Minister is said to be in talks with the Finnish company Jolla. He is reportedly asking the company to produce a Russian smartphone operating system which would be based on the Sailfish OS. This based on the concern that there is too much reliance on Android and iOS.

The Russian government believes that if they build their own OS, it will encourage local developers and that they will start to make app and services for this OS. The government also believes that by the help of this OS, they will boost their economy.

The main reason why Russians want to make their own OS is because they want an end to the surveillance that comes with other devices. The Apple products can collect data which goes to the American government.

Even China recently thought that the boom of Apple products in China was bad. China has now banned Chinese soldiers from wearing the Apple smart watches. So by building their own OS, Russia will minimize the surveillance from other countries.

The Russian Communication Minister believes that if they are able to make their own smartphone OS, then more than half of Russia will use their smartphones. It would also be bad for business for Apple and the Android products because currently there are a lot of sales from Russia.

Source: RBC via Engadget