The Ministry of Digital Development is concerned with the “deep implementation” of RuStore into Android gadgets. Russian video hosting sites are on pause
The Russian government is concerned about installing firmware for Android-based smartphones in Russia for the domestic RuStore application store.
In addition, gadgets must be sold with pre-installed domestic applications, of which there is not a single video hosting service. Who can correct this situation in Russia?
The Ministry of Digital Development published document, according to which the RuStore application store should not only be pre-installed on all smartphones sold in Russia, but also, so to speak, “built into the system.” Technically, this can only be done on Android-based phones, which, in fact, is what is stated in the draft government decree.
Actually, you can also read there why representatives of the executive branch in Russia need this - today, 19 Russian-made applications are preinstalled on Android gadgets - from the revived ancient ICQ and Odnoklassniki to Yandex and MyOffice. Documentation".
App store firmware is something new and a completely different story. The truth does not look like something surprising - after the imposition of sanctions against Huawei, all Google services and... disappeared from their gadgets. pre-installed Google Play very quickly changed to AppGallery. Moreover, the latter is being improved more and more. Apparently Russian officials are offering exactly the same system, only the application store is different.
However, it is worth paying attention to the fact that Android smartphones (in most cases) often have foreign video hosting sites YouTube or, say, TikTok as pre-installed programs, and a Russian analogue to these services does not yet exist in nature.
Among the 19 mandatory applications mentioned above, there is not a single video service - only on a PC the legislator obliges to install RuTube, which, after all, is not a full-fledged replacement for Google hosting.
Frankly speaking, none of the attempts to “play domestic YouTube” were successful. Today, only Dzen and VK and the above-mentioned video hosting from Gazprom Media can boast of video services, and none of them performs all functions.
Moreover, it has very little in common with the American giant in the system of rewarding bloggers and even technical “tricks”. Some have them, but they don’t work as they should, while others didn’t even have such a goal. It seems that they act on the principle: “Is he playing the video? Well, okay, why anything else? That’s why no one leaves the American video service.
True, the creation of our own video hosting, different from foreign analogues, is still underway in Russia. So, in February 2023 there was announced “Video Revolution” competition with a very respectable prize fund of 100 million rubles.
Developers are invited to create their own product from scratch that would meet all modern requirements, have its own AI, data storage bank, system, and so on. While applications are being accepted - they have now been accepted from 22 participants, the applications themselves will be accepted until mid-April.
Judging by the ambitions and the proposal for further investment in the winning product of the project, the organizers’ intentions to create their own video service are not joking. Thus, the investment potential (in addition to the 100 million prize fund) is half a billion rubles and the opportunity to further work in a team.
The pace and huge cash injections indicate that already in the next edition of the law on pre-installed programs on smartphones, a new product from domestic programmers may appear and it will not be one of the many “clones” of YouTube, but something completely new.
English version :: Read in English The Ministry of Digital Development is concerned with the “deep implementation” of RuStore into Android gadgets. Russian video hosting sites are on pause