$AAPL - Apple iPhones And iPads Will Be Banned In Russia From New Year’s Day 2015

On Tuesday, a new report was published in Russia, creating uproar and concerns. Based on the report, Russia will be forbidding retailers from selling the Apple iPhone and iPad devices starting from Jan. 1, 2015 i.e. New Year's Day. Notably, this ban includes the latest iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Looking at the report, one would think, this recent development could be the aftermath of dismantling Steve Jobs' memorial in St. Petersburg. Owing to the fact that, Apple CEO Tim Cook, publicly announced that he is gay. But then, the real reason behind this ban is, in fact, Apple's cloud storage service, the iCloud. Therefore, the Russian authorities' ban on Apple products has got nothing to do with Tim Cooks' confession, says Phone Arena.

According to the new Russian law, the ban is applicable to any device that uses Apple's iCloud. As readers would have guessed already, the obvious reason is that the user data saved in the iCloud is not stored locally. Apple's iCloud servers are located in the U.S. and not in Russia. Nevertheless, readers should note that this regulation is not created to take down Apple products. Instead, the rule is applicable to all online services. This includes all the different social networking sites as well.

To counter this rule, Apple can move the Russian users' data to servers based out of the country. However, this move will set a wrong precedence for the company, says the same site. Meaning, many other countries might follow suit with such demands in future. Furthermore, Russia might even obligate the ban at the retail level, making it even more difficult for the Cupertino based tech giant. This also means Russian iPhone or iPad owners that use iCloud may have to go through continual scrutiny by the Russian authorities.

It is worth mentioning that, back in September, Shanghai government authorities banned the use of foreign smartphones. Needles to say, Apple's iPhone models were part of the targeted list. China's People's Daily, which is apparently the official newspaper of the Communist Party, announced the ban via a tweet. "Shanghai authorities has [sic] ordered all cadres to use China-made smartphones only, a forum organized by [Beijing] University said Friday," according to the publication.