It is possible that there is a simple explanation for the Russian telecoms acting nearly simultaneously. Perhaps their contracts had similar end dates. But another possibility is more interesting. It was recently revealed that the US government is unable to decrypt iMessages and Facetime chats. If the US can't break them, it is likely the Russian security services can't either. So one has to wonder if the Russian government decided to discourage cooperation with Apple. For in spite of Vladimir Putin's newfound friendship with Edward Snowden, he probably highly values his ability to snoop on his citizen's activities -- even more so than Barack Obama.
Except that there was nothing simultaneous about this. The first (MegaPhone) stopped in 2010, the second (MTS) in 2012 when the i5 was released and the third in 2013.
A simpler explanation is just that the terms that Apple enforces on the carriers are just not sufficiently attractive to the carriers given the realities of the russian market. DoCoMo in Japan said basically exactly the same thing, China Mobile also.
I have never managed to understand why some people on AI seem to think that the carriers should be obliged to subsidize Apple products in a deal that loses money for the carriers and allows Apple to sustain abnormally high margins. Maybe someone can explain the logic behind this expectation. The real problem is that if the carriers let Apple siphon profits then there is less capital available for the carrier to expand and improve their network coverage.
Actually it would seem to be more logical for Apple to subsidize the network investments of the carriers and bring more consumers into the high bandwidth that Apple needs for the smartphone to work at all. After all. Apple has mountains of cash rotting in the bank and doing nothing useful.
As long as there is an iPhone sales channel, I don't see Apple losing much sleep over this.
And I would expect a massive brick and mortar shop as well. With the carriers not playing nice, a Russian Apple store will have blockbuster lines for iPhones.
As long as there is an iPhone sales channel, I don't see Apple losing much sleep over this.
And I would expect a massive brick and mortar shop as well. With the carriers not playing nice, a Russian Apple store will have blockbuster lines for iPhones.
Without carrier support, the iPhone could be somewhat handicapped. Features such as visual voicemail, Facetime may not work.
Apple iPhone, iPad, MacBook, iMac %u0432 %u043D%u0430%u043B%u0438%u0447%u0438%u0438 %u0438 %u043F%u043E%u0434 %u0437%u0430%u043A%u0430%u0437 %u0432 %u041F%u0435%u0440%u043C%u0438. Hello from Perm! Amkar FC is the best club in Europe! perm.oxim.ru
Comments
Apple is too greedy and cocky, as always.
And apparently, Russia is now more capitalistic than US. They allow no subsidies.
Quote:
Originally Posted by af410
It is possible that there is a simple explanation for the Russian telecoms acting nearly simultaneously. Perhaps their contracts had similar end dates. But another possibility is more interesting. It was recently revealed that the US government is unable to decrypt iMessages and Facetime chats. If the US can't break them, it is likely the Russian security services can't either. So one has to wonder if the Russian government decided to discourage cooperation with Apple. For in spite of Vladimir Putin's newfound friendship with Edward Snowden, he probably highly values his ability to snoop on his citizen's activities -- even more so than Barack Obama.
Except that there was nothing simultaneous about this. The first (MegaPhone) stopped in 2010, the second (MTS) in 2012 when the i5 was released and the third in 2013.
A simpler explanation is just that the terms that Apple enforces on the carriers are just not sufficiently attractive to the carriers given the realities of the russian market. DoCoMo in Japan said basically exactly the same thing, China Mobile also.
I have never managed to understand why some people on AI seem to think that the carriers should be obliged to subsidize Apple products in a deal that loses money for the carriers and allows Apple to sustain abnormally high margins. Maybe someone can explain the logic behind this expectation. The real problem is that if the carriers let Apple siphon profits then there is less capital available for the carrier to expand and improve their network coverage.
Actually it would seem to be more logical for Apple to subsidize the network investments of the carriers and bring more consumers into the high bandwidth that Apple needs for the smartphone to work at all. After all. Apple has mountains of cash rotting in the bank and doing nothing useful.
And I would expect a massive brick and mortar shop as well. With the carriers not playing nice, a Russian Apple store will have blockbuster lines for iPhones.
Without carrier support, the iPhone could be somewhat handicapped. Features such as visual voicemail, Facetime may not work.
lol, /s
How is that...
Hello from Perm! Amkar FC is the best club in Europe! perm.oxim.ru