India Plans New Rules For Pre-Instal And Main OS Applications, Lose Smart Phone Players!

JAKARTA - India is reportedly planning to introduce new security rules, forcing smartphone manufacturers to allow the removal of pre-installed applications and a major operating system (OS) filtering mandate.

According to Indian government sources and documents, the rules are under consideration amid concerns about spying and misuse of user data.

"Pre-installed applications can be a weak security point and we want to make sure no foreign countries, including China, exploit it. This is a national security issue," an unnamed Indian official said.

The Indian government has stepped up oversight of China's business since border clashes in 2020 between the two countries, banned more than 300 Chinese applications, including TikTok.

Under the new rules, smartphone makers must provide installation removal options for pre-installed applications, and new models will be checked for compliance by laboratories approved by India's Standard Bureau.

In addition, the government is also considering mandated to screen every major OS update before it is rolled out to consumers.

This move, of course, could extend the launch schedule in the world's second-largest smartphone market and cause business losses from pre-installed apps for mobile phone giants including Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo and Apple.

The players accounted for nearly half of all sales, while Samsung has a 20 percent share and Apple owns 3 percent, as quoted by Gizmochina, Wednesday, March 15.

However, the new rules can pose challenges for smartphone manufacturers, especially for those who sell devices with apps that own or pre-install other apps that have monetization agreements.

Several smartphone industry executives have expressed concern, where more testing could extend approval time for smartphones and hinder strategy into the company's market.

However, the Indian government has decided to give smartphone makers one year to comply with the new rules after taking effect, an undetermined date.

A similar move was previously played by the European Union where it asked manufacturers not to pre-load applications on new devices. However, India seems to go further by filtering out software updates.