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South Korea Rules Pre-Installed Phone Bloatware Must Be Deletable (zdnet.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the just-the-basics dept.

New industry guidelines in South Korea will allow smartphone users the option of deleting unnecessary pre-installed bloatware. "The move aims to rectify an abnormal practice that causes inconvenience to smartphone users and causes unfair competition among industry players," said the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, in a press release. ZDNet reports: The measure will also help give users more data storage and improve battery life, said the ministry. Under the new guidelines, telcos are required to make most of their pre-installed apps deletable except for four necessary items related to Wi-Fi connectivity, near-field communication (NFC), the customer service center and the app store.

4 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. 1MB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Microsoft's app sent 1MB of data from my phone to their servers. It came pre-installed, and I never used it. At what point exactly did I agree for Microsoft to slurp down 1MB worth of my private data from my phone?

  2. Only in Korea? by dmt0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Does it mean that there will be a special firmware version just for Korea with deletable bloatware and the same old for everybody else?

  3. Am I alone— by Barny · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In noticing that the article linked is 5 years old?

    I mean, I know /. usually lags a little, but this is crazy.

    --
    ...
    /me sighs
  4. Re:good, its about time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You need to buy a phone from Korea sold after the law have become active first.

    Isn't it interesting how the market haven't provided you with what you want and you have to rely on the legislation in another country for companies to get it.

    It is almost as if market capitalism doesn't work as advertised unless there are more than a hundred vendors to choose from.