Apple bows to Kremlin pressure to remove leading VPNs from Russian AppStore

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.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/21/two-years-after-apple-quit-russia-over-ukraine-vision-pros-are-for-sale-in-moscow.html

We are but not like that lol

Eitherway sanctions is just increased cost of doing business, ie they don't stop good business.

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.

Apologise for the crude description, but sanctions are like masturbation. They make the person doing it feel a little better. That's about it.

The great mighty Apple does not have to follow sanctions. If it hiccups, the US economy does too. Can't have that!

shows who they are.

A corporation. And when corporations have to make a choice, profit will always come first.

There's no child labour factories in China, this is just racism. The child labour is in the USA.

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.

Better not having different regions at all.

So all the shit banned in China, North Korea, etc. we lose it too then? You fucking moron

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.