Apple Files Legal Challenge Against EU Law as Sideloading Requirement Looms

[MacRumors]

Apple today filed a legal challenge against the European Union's Digital Markets Act ahead of the impending requirement to enable app sideloading on its devices (via Reuters).

The Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into effect on November 1, 2022, requires "gatekeeper" companies to open up their services and platforms to other companies and developers. The DMA will have a significant impact on Apple's platforms and it could result in the company being forced to make major changes to the ‌App Store‌, Messages, FaceTime, Siri, and more. For example, Apple will be obliged to enable users to "sideload" apps from outside the App Store. The company appears to have already put preparations in place to acquiesce to this demand in early 2024.

Apple's new legal case takes issue with specific decisions taken by the European Commission under the DMA, but the exact details of the challenge have not yet been publicized. The case is expected to include an argument against the App Store being included on the EU's list of gatekeeper platforms, which requires app sideloading to be an option to allow users to avoid the App Store if they wish. In a statement at the time, Apple told Bloomberg, "We remain very concerned about the privacy and data security risks the DMA poses for our users." Meta and TikTok have filed similar appeals disputing the European Commission's inclusion of their services.

Article Link: Apple Files Legal Challenge Against EU Law as Sideloading Requirement Looms

 

[bluecoast]

I prefer the Apple that gets people to buy its products through innovation.

Not the one that guards every cent that it can squeeze out of them.

 

[zahuh]

just a reminder to everyone here, the Mac, which I assume many of us love, allows for Apps to be downloaded from the App Store, or from online with verification for security, but we are able to disable the verification. I feel very safe using my Mac. iPhone has to open up. I assume it will be similar to the Mac and hopefully everything will be OK or even better

 

[Gloor]

Precisely! This monopoly behaviour has to go. Let people decide but give them the option.

Just like Steve Jobs always said - 'ask them'

I'm on EU side here. Doesn't mean I will use apps outside Appstore myself but I feel this will give people options. Those that want to tinker will be able to and those that want to feel the 'blanket of security' Apple provides will be also happy. Win win

just a reminder to everyone here, the Mac, which I assume many of us love, allows for Apps to be downloaded from the App Store, or from online with verification for security, but we are able to disable the verification. I feel very safe using my Mac. iPhone has to open up. I assume it will be similar to the Mac and hopefully everything will be OK or even better

 

[JosephAW]

Would prefer the Apple would allow us to download purchased apps onto our computer and load them onto our devices again even if the developer is no longer in the app store.
Since Apple refuses to allow this I am for side loading apps to work around this.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Wow: FOUR favorable posts about side loading before the "Apple is always right" crowd shows up with pitchforks, torches & battering rams. Impressive to see consumers thinking like consumers! Way to go people.

#2 says it all. Even the most passionate of fans has probably purchased at least ONE app for their Mac direct from the maker of that app or through third parties. And their lives have not been destroyed, their money stolen, their identity lifted, their Mac suffering infections/trojans beyond all possible repair, etc. No problem for anyone who uses their brain to choose their source of apps wisely.

And anyone who is overwhelmed with security worries still has the OPTION of getting Mac apps from Apple's Mac App Store... as would be the case here for iDevice apps. So if Apple's App Store is best, let it win the competition with others... exactly like the Mac App Store competes with getting Mac apps direct from the makers and via third party store offers. Let the consumers decide where to get a given app vs. a lone, single source with lucrative for-profit motivations above all else.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

I told them they could impliment sideloading now or be forced to kicking and screaming. I see Apple chose the kicking and screaming route. My favorite 🍿

Man the sideloading update can't come fast enough. I can't wait. I'll probably upgrade my iPhone when it arrives.

 

[djphat2000]

Thank you Apple. Fight this BS.

 

[djphat2000]

I prefer the Apple that gets people to buy its products through innovation.

Not the one that guards every cent that it can squeeze out of them.

If you feel that way. At any time. You can leave the platform.

 

[jayducharme]

Meta and TikTok are concerned about privacy?

 

[Wildkraut]

LOL, see the monopolist is moaning.

Your AppStore your rules, our Country our rules, but our rules are over yours.
If you don't like it, you know where the door is, Apple.

 

[User 6502]

Apple will just embarrass itself. EU will prevail as it has with usb c, internet explorer and any other major similar case. In Europe we don’t like monopolies

 

[rp100]

Assuming Apple has pure motives, I understand the substance of their argument. A hacked iPhone that goes everywhere with you is different than a hacked desktop or laptop which isn’t inherently on your person the majority of the day. Entire lives are stored on these devices which act as a diary, communication device, photo album, finance manager… the list goes on. If you could silently monitor and control a device, could you manipulate that person? Could you become that person?

As a tinkerer, I welcome side-loading with full knowledge of the risks. I also anticipate many users getting tricked into installing malicious software.

 

[NEPOBABY]

Good.

Because these laws are being written by very corrupt bureaucrats who have been bribed by cyber criminals who have promised to donate portions of their criminal profits to political parties.

We saw what FTX did with the money.

We know that human traffickers and pig butchering scams do with crypto and support scams.

They all have to pay off police and politicians to continue their crimes.

They want side loading to happen because they want to target wealthier iPhone users not just poorer Android users.

They want to be able to trick thousands and thousands of people to download fake apps and scams apps and then use it to steal data and trick people into sending them money.

This is what it has all been about. Corruption and crime.

They need to weaken security to get away with it even more.

Anyone who disagrees is in with the scammers and crooks.

 

[GMShadow]

Apple will just embarrass itself. EU will prevail as it has with usb c, internet explorer and any other major similar case. In Europe we don’t like monopolies

Or success, or enterprises that don't need government bailouts...


This will be used in ways people refuse to imagine, and in 10 years all of you will be screaming about how those things are horrible while refusing to admit you cheered the things that made them possible in the first place.

 

[Biro]

LOL, see the monopolist is moaning.

Your AppStore your rules, our Country our rules, but our rules are over yours.
If you don't like it, you know where the door is, Apple.

Hey, I’m all for Apple telling the EU to stick it and withdrawing from the market. It would give those elitists the attitude adjustment they need. This would only have to happen with one or two companies before the message sinks in.

 

[NEPOBABY]

Apple will just embarrass itself. EU will prevail as it has with usb c, internet explorer and any other major similar case. In Europe we don’t like monopolies

USB-C was put together by Intel and Apple. The EU did jack ****.

Apple was going to move to USB-C eventually when ProRes recording was feasible.

Internet Explorer is called Edge today. Microsoft never changed their behavior.

Don't give the EU credit for things they didn't do. They have ruined their continent by selling off millions of homes to gangster landlords in Asia and letting criminals roam free all over the continent.

And I'm no right winger. I'm a leftie who believes citizens should live in a safe, affordable society with no slave labor. The EU didn't do anything to prevent cities from being centres of money laundering, stabbings, kidnappings, human trafficking and extortionate rents.

They side loaded a continent with crimes.

 

[TheToolGuide]

just a reminder to everyone here, the Mac, which I assume many of us love, allows for Apps to be downloaded from the App Store, or from online with verification for security, but we are able to disable the verification. I feel very safe using my Mac. iPhone has to open up. I assume it will be similar to the Mac and hopefully everything will be OK or even better

This is not a smart idea. People do have options like Android or jailbreak their iPhones. No one needs this people just say they want it. Few will actually use it and it opens everyone else up to more security and privacy issues.

Instead of alternate app stores offer better payment options for the developers and other ways to transact their Apps. For all the hate the App store gets for its vetting process I guarantee it will be much worse when installing apps from outside of the store. Image Facebook doesn’t have to abide by the App Store policies and posts Apps that harvest more data and didn’t get vetted by Apple because they don’t have to. iOS can only do so much against smart developers. Now image the app isn’t free like FB and they want your data. They offer a cheaper one through an alternative site that collects even more data. People will flock to the discounted one not knowing they are giving up more of their info.

People store way more of their personal information on their phones as opposed to their computers. Your computer doesn’t also follow you around to everywhere you go for location data. All of this is stuff that people want to protect against for many good reasons. Thinking the iPhone is just like the Mac is ignorant thinking and Apple themselves said that if they could’ve done it differently they would’ve had a closed system on Macs but it was a much earlier time.

Giving people choice is important but forcing this on people is not allowing them to choose either. There are a lot of people who like the Apple ecosystem but don’t realize the reasons they like it so much is because of these policies. Breaking down these protections will inevitably make it worse. So if people really want a choice then choose Android. Many haven’t because they don’t trust that system, they don’t like their ecosystem, or they just been with Apple since the start.

 

[contacos]

Meanwhile Google and Microsoft have decided to work together with them instead. This might just bite Apple even more in the ass

 

[kemal]

I could see Apple require a developer account to use Xcode. Then require using Xcode requiring the use of the App Store. So if your app is to be side loaded, you are on your own.

 

[antiprotest]

For better or worse, sideloading would happen within a year of China ordering Apple to do it.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

In a statement at the time, Apple told Bloomberg, "We remain very concerned about the privacy and data security risks the DMA poses for our users."

Try telling that to the millions of Mac and Windows users! Bwaha!

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Apple will just embarrass itself. EU will prevail as it has with usb c, internet explorer and any other major similar case. In Europe we don’t like monopolies

It's pretty depressing we can't get regulation like that in the United States, because god knows we need it especially regarding telecom.

 

[jakey rolling]

Assuming Apple has pure motives

LOL

 

[XXPP]

When will SONY, NINTENDO and Microsoft open their gaming platforms? When will they be able to install any games outside of their store and license?
Will the EU deal with this?