Although Apple does not allow its partners to modify iOS or iPhone terminals in any way, here in Singapore the strict rules imposed by the company are not respected. There, the mobile phone operators will sell iPhone 4S terminals without the front and rear cameras, but we are only talking about models that will be used by soldiers in military bases. In Singapore, soldiers are not allowed to enter military bases with cell phones equipped with cameras, so cell phone operators They've decided to remove the cameras from the terminals and leave only the rest of their functions.
Following a year-long review, Mindef [the Singapore Defense Ministry] recently issued guidelines to its servicemen on the use of such smartphones. It is understood that servicemen with these phones must show a certificate to prove that their handsets were modified by any one of the local telcos. Last September, Mindef spokesperson Desmond Tan told The Straits Times that Mindef and the SAF were 'exploring ways to allow our personnel to use smartphones while maintaining our current security policy on disallowing personal image-capturing devices to be used on Mindef/SAF premises'.
The problem with the decision of those in Singapore lies in the fact that Apple did not allow them to do this, so the operators remove the cameras in their own services and then sell the devices without these components. It will be interesting to see how Apple will react, a company that imposes very strict rules on its partners and that sanctions non-compliance with the rules. Normally, mobile phone operators in Singapore should no longer receive iPhone 4S terminals, but we will see in the coming weeks how Apple will decide to solve the problem.
