Apple Inc.’s refusal so far to approve the Indian
government’s anti-spam iPhone app is infuriating regulators, potentially
harming the company’s efforts to sell more products in the country.
Apple Inc.’s refusal so far to approve the Indian
government’s anti-spam iPhone app is infuriating regulators, potentially
harming the company’s efforts to sell more products in the country. The Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India has been trying unsuccessfully to get its Do Not
Disturb software included in the App Store. The program lets people share spam
call and text message logs with the agency, which uses the data to alert mobile
operators to block the spammers. Apple has said the app violates its privacy
policy, according to the regulator.
The standoff could impact Apple’s efforts to expand in
India, where half a billion smartphones will be sold by 2020. The Cupertino,
California-based company has been in discussions with India’s government to
open retail stores and secure permission to sell used iPhones imported into the
country. Apple has put forth a long list of demands, including tax breaks and
other concessions, to set up manufacturing facilities.
“Nobody’s asking Apple to violate its privacy policy,” said
Ram Sewak Sharma, chairman of the Delhi-based telecom regulator. “It is a
ridiculous situation, no company can be allowed to be the guardian of a user’s
data.”
The regulator is currently seeking public and stakeholder
comments on a consultative paper on users’ control over their personal
information and rules on the flow of data through telecommunications networks.
The process, scheduled to be completed in September, could eventually lead to
new rules governing user data. That could also become part of the telecom
licensing process, Sharma said.
Any new measures could affect not just Apple, but Facebook,
Google and other technology companies that handle large amounts of private and
personal information.
“Data is a strategic asset, and there’s realization around
the world that public policy has to come to grips with it,” said Nandan
Nilekani, who ran India’s biometric Aadhaar identity program and was recently
appointed chairman of Asia’s No. 2 outsourcer Infosys Ltd.
Apple didn’t respond to requests for comment on the
regulator’s remarks. Last year, the company shipped 2.5 million iPhones in
India, and earlier this year, supplier Wistron Corp. began assembling a limited
number of iPhones in Bangalore. So far, the Indian government has all but
declined Apple’s request to import used iPhones, and has yet to respond to
other demands.
Sharma, who banned Facebook Inc.’s Free Basics internet
access program last year, said there hasn’t been a resolution after
half-a-dozen meetings with Apple. While Apple’s policy allows it to share user
data with affiliates and strategic partners, the Indian government’s Do Not
Disturb app only requires a limited, pre-approved level of data sharing, said
Sharma, who has a degree in computer science from the University of California
at Riverside. Apple’s policy states that sharing data with any other entity
isn’t allowed.
“The problem of who controls user data is getting acute and
we have to plug the loose ends,” Sharma said. “This is not the regulator versus
Apple, but Apple versus its own users.”
