How many times can you say that you've seen Apple come back on a decision and change your mind, even slightly? Not many, is it? For they feel that the following story represents exactly one of those rare (and curious) cases.
The story, told by Reuters, the following: with the problem of spam via SMS and phone calls reaching unbearable levels in the ndia (I even wonder if it is worse than here), the government of the Asian country decided to get into the issue with total strength through an application called Do not disturb. The app captures information about calls and text messages received on the phone, and the user affected by the unwanted advertisements can report the numbers; the operators are then able to block the spammers directly by the information received from the application.
Do Not Disturb, which is an initiative of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI, equivalent to our Anatel), has been available for Android since last year. In the case of the iPhone, however, which continues to see its market share increase in the country, the Indian authorities faced a very thorny obstacle: initially, Apple refused to cooperate with the creation of the application.
A few months ago, citing the App Store's privacy policies, Ma said that third-party apps could not capture the phone's call log and making an exception for the Indian government could set an unwanted precedent. Now, after public criticism by the Indian government about Apple's lack of cooperation, the company backed down in its decision (albeit partially) and sent some of its executives to Nova Dli, where it was announced that the company would help the government develop the application but with “limited functionality”.
It is unclear where this app will be “limited”, but an Apple spokesman confirmed that the iOS 11 APIs will allow him to access at least the text messages received on the phone to detect possible spammers. Nothing has been said about phone calls, however.
It remains to be seen, now, when the application reaches India's App Store considering the apparent size of the problem, I would say that millions of Indian iPhone owners can't wait.
via MacRumors
