>> This is naive

What? This was the real world, a matter of first hand experience. We could not consider jeopardising sales to our biggest market (the US) by breaking US embargo for a barely significant market.

You're right, you shouldn't consider doing it unless there are significant gains to be had.

But see my other comment.

(However, I don't think Cuba has qualms about pirating software, if this was hw it would have been a different issue)

> There's always a way of solving things.

Except, not really.

You can’t put any app using any encryption technology up on the Google Play Store or the iOS App Store, if you also distribute anything to Cuba.

For the first you need to get an approval from the US DoD, which requires that you never interact with Cuba.

Yes, but you don't sell it directly to Cuba, you sell it to $COUNTRY which might eventually sell it to Cuba (and you don't even know about it)

It's not you selling to Cuba, it's Cuba buying through intermediates.

(Of course if you really want you can sell things directly to Cuba, but you need to find a way of disguising it)

You're (or, were) also forbidden from bringing Cuban cigars to the US, but if you arrive from a flight from Panama with a box of unmarked cigars nobody is going to do anything.

You could sell apks

I can’t sell anything to Cuba while also providing anything in the Google Store or the Apple App Store.

That’s part fo the issue.