| Ministry of Industry and Trade Urges Russian Manufacturers to Adopt “Aurora” OS | |
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| June 15, 2023 | By News Reporter |
The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia has recommended that domestic manufacturers of smartphones and tablets begin selling devices with the Russian operating system (OS) called “Aurora” in the consumer segment. This recommendation was made during a meeting between Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Vasily Shpak, and representatives of electronics and mobile OS manufacturers, according to the acquired protocol by Kommersant.
The meeting, which took place on June 13, was attended by companies such as Aquarius, Baiterg, Azimuth, Yadro, F+Tech, and the developer of Aurora OS, Aurora Op – Open Mobile Platform (OMP), which is owned by Rostelecom. During the meeting, the department asked the manufacturers to prepare a schedule for porting the Aurora OS to their devices.
The ministry also intends to replace Apple tablets and other foreign brands used by its employees with Russian gadgets running on the Aurora OS for working purposes. This decision comes as a security measure due to the potential threat of confidential information leakage. Previously, the department had already prohibited its employees from using Apple smartphones for the same reason.
In late 2022, Rostelecom presented the government with the development strategy for Aurora OS, which aims to produce and implement 70 million devices using the OS by 2030 across the consumer, state, and commercial sectors. The implementation of this strategy is estimated to cost 480 billion rubles and includes reducing the import of foreign devices and subsidizing the development of Aurora OS, among other measures. On the other hand, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed supplying devices with Aurora OS exclusively to the public sector.
However, electronics manufacturers have expressed doubts about the competitiveness of Aurora OS against Android and iOS in the consumer market. They have highlighted several issues associated with this OS. Firstly, they point out the high cost of Aurora devices, which retail for around 50,000 to 60,000 rubles, making them significantly more expensive than Chinese alternatives with inferior technical quality. Secondly, they mention the difficulty of porting Aurora OS to different device models, a process that can take up to six months and must be repeated for any hardware changes. Thirdly, they note the lack of a comprehensive ecosystem of applications for the Russian OS. Additionally, they