TEHRAN, Jul 19 - Iran’s minister of telecommunications says that the country is planning to equip mobile devices in the country with a special operating system that would prevent the United States government from banning Iran-made mobile applications.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said on Thursday that the new operating system would be a bespoke version of Android, a Google-owned system which is installed on over two billion mobile devices around the world.
“We are not seeking an indigenous operating system. We seek to ... dismantle the access of this government (the US) to remove our applications through having an operating system made to order,” said Azeri Jahromi.
The comments came after media reports suggested that Iran had developed its own operating system to help mobile device users in the country avoid Google’s periodic restrictions on apps developed inside Iran for business and routine daily purposes like shopping and ride-hailing.
Azeri Jahromi, however, rejected the notion that the OS, titled Aria Mini, is a pure Iranian operating system, adding that researchers were still working on such a project.
“This is not an indigenous operating system, it is a bespoke Android,” he said.
The minister also rejected claims that Aria Mini would restrict the choices for Iranian users of Android when they want to install major global applications.
“All international applications can be installed on that while there would be no chance for removal of the Iranian applications,” said the minister.
Millions of Iranian owners of mobile devices manufactured by Apple are currently facing similar restrictions imposed by the American technology firm as it seeks to fully implement the illegal sanctions imposed by Washington on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Source: Presstv