If I'm paying for an app, and the developer removes it from App Store, and forces me somewhere else, I'll stop paying and find another solution.
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Apple Releasing iOS 17.4 in March With These New Features and Changes
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And the only reply you might get is “I found some options on the web on your iPhone. Open your iPhone to find out more!”
In all reality, they REALLY REALLY need to work on Siri. I know they are working on AI but Apple is so far behind all other AI’s, it’s almost as if they won’t catch up! I love using Alexa exactly for this. I don’t have to open a damn thing. I just ‘listen’!
Its time we ended this debate once and for all. Most of these companies are not 'gatekeepers' because they are not the sole storefront for their devices or services. I'll even break it down for the ADF members in the audience:
Sony: PlayStation games and Sony pictures releases are available on physical media from a variety of retailers
Microsoft: The PC is an open platform and you are not limited to the Windows Store for apps. Xbox games still have physical releases (for now). They also cut their entire commission rates during the Epic vs Apple case. You can also get a life-long developer account for $20 which lets you build apps and unlock an Xbox into a developer kit (which then opens it up to sideloading of UWP apps such as emulators!)
Steam: A competing storefront on an open platform. Users on PC can pick from Epic, GOG and dozens of others.
Amazon: The Kindle is capable of reading PDFs and ePub files obtained from different retailers or free repositories and has been since day one. When you buy a book on Amazon.com you also have the option of not only buying a new physical copy but also 2nd hand ones from 3rd parties.
Nintendo: When the entire world has gone completely digital and everything including your lunch is a download Nintendo will still be making cartridges for its games consoles which again are available from a variety of retailers.
And we will also add Android because a user can sideload unsupported application and utilise a variety of decent storefronts such as APKPure and Samsung App Gallery. I can also unlock an Android device a install a different OS on there if I so wish.
Oh and Apple also operate MacOS which lets me install apps from a variety of websites and storefronts.
Apple maybe are a special case but they are unique in having totalitarian control over every stage of their hardware and software stack. This is what makes their offering so enticing but its also what has painted a big target on their backs. Whilst their stories about malware are not entirely propaganda this is only true as of now because sideloading a .ipa file on an iPhone is very difficult so its easy to trick people. I've been doing it on Android devices for over a decade and never had any problems. But their hypocracy in operating an open OS like the Mac and then arguing that keeping iOS closed is for safety is pretty obvious.
It wouldn't have been if they had just opened up iOS to sideloading raw .ipa files in the same way Android can load .apks. The Android sideloading community is safe and open because it has been cultivated from day one. In many ways Apple have become their own worst enemy.
I largely agree with you on CarPlay essentially doing the same things as the car, and probably not as well. They only positive I see about CarPlay comes with the ability to continue using any internet connected services you may want to use beyond the point when the auto manufacturer decides to sunset them (or the vehicle’s mobile connection tech is sunsetted). Essentially, more benefit when your vehicle is old.
In my current vehicle, CarPlay for a lot of these functions looks like a step backwards.
- Camera: includes rear, front, cross-traffic (wide angle, front and rear), plus various display modes for parking, 360 deg. Rotation, and trailering mode. The car is also capable of parking itself (perp. or parallel) and the controls for all of the preceding are nicely presented in the center display, overriding anything else (including CarPlay) the instant I press the “Park” button on the center console. CarPlay would add zero to this functionality.
- Climate: car has very simple dedicated buttons already. No need to interact with a screen.
- Closure: alerts prominently in the instrument cluster with graphics. Also shows there which passengers positions are/are not belted.
- Media: part of the appeal of CarPlay media implementation is the ability to use the vehicle’s controls for this (steering wheel or otherwise) so really not much is different in operation while driving. In my vehicle at least, CarPlay does not have to take over the center screen except when I am selecting a different CarPlay music app. I normally have the car UI and in its media widget, it shows what is playing even if it happens to be a CarPlay source.
- Tire Pressure and Trips: again, the vehicle does it very well.
What makes you think that. App developers are going to weigh the potential loss of revenue of App Store vs 3rd party and the potential risks of App Store vs 3rd party. You just really don't trust an open system where people are free to make their own decisions. It is very simple, if the app is sold in a risky environment then don't buy it. There will be alternatives in the App Store. You are reacting to Apple fear mongering.
We get it, you are a true believer in Apple marketing. Good for you. But you might want to research "security by obscurity. What you will find is that it never works.
There are some people where that will be the only way they can tell.
Whilst this is true it gives developers options about where their stock is sold. There is also a thriving indie scene on consoles, going back to the Net Yaroze. Developers also have a choice about which platform they release on to support their own ends. In theory the PSN, Xbox Store and Nintendo eShop are actually competing storefronts because they stock the same wares from the same developers.
I expect it to be opt-in (with lots of warning signs).
Hopefully there will be some emulation app for gameboy Roms available on some App Store
Apple are the ones that put the focus on stores. The DMA clearly specifies both separate apps and stores are to be allowed interoperability with Apples own distribution mechanisms, free of charge.
Time will tell what happens with regards to leaving the App Store, but I'll simply refer you to Android where non Play Store distribution has been possible for literally decades and look at how this doesn't happen there.
As for "breaches", iOS sandboxes apps, and Apple has to make sure that sandbox is working correctly regardless, so their insistence that allowing apps installed from outside of the App Store is in any way a security risk is mostly a lie.
Tit-for-tat, the US is free to make similar demands, and you can bet your ass that EU companies will adhere to them, but I'll remind you that this isn't targeting US tech companies so much that it's targeting gatekeepers and that happens to be mostly US tech companies for now, but they are certainly not the only companies that are gatekeepers, ByteDance is, for example, included in the initial round of announced gatekeepers.
Highly doubtful, I would expect Apple will use the open GSMA RCS Universal Profile just like they announced they would.
Great summary.
I'd add that there is an argument to be made about the video game console manufacturers and their licensing which means that they take profits made from all sales regardless of where the sale happens be it digital or retail, but personally I don't think it's comparable as we're talking about a purpose-specific device here, and not a general purpose computing device like the iPhone is.
I think regulation should be written targeting purpose-specific devices as well, but it should be more focused on right-to-repair than software distribution, although that should definitely also be a part of it.
"These changes will be implemented with iOS 17.4 for iPhone users who reside in the 27 countries that belong to the EU."
For those EU citizens who not only spend time in the EU but also significant amounts of time outside it, quite how is Apple going to decide where you reside?
For those EU citizens who not only spend time in the EU but also significant amounts of time outside it, quite how is Apple going to decide where you reside?
The country that your Apple ID, and associated payment method, is assigned to.
So every time I move my residence from an EU country to a non-EU country, which is several times a year as anything over 3 months is considered 'residence' in the EU, then I need to change those details.
That's interesting - how do you do that?
Don‘t expect too many warnings, since that’s prohibited as subverting the customer’s decision.
I assume it will not solely be subject to the registered address and/or payment method:
https://9to5mac.com/2023/04/25/ios-16-restrict-features-based-on-location/
How do you change that when you change your registered address?
If you live in one EU country for more than 3 months you are required to register that you are resident there, so do you have to post a copy of that document to Apple?
And being resident in one country doesn't preclude you from having a banking arrangement in another country.
Cheers!
With videogames most pieces of software are multi-platform making each console a rival storefront for the same content. As a dev I could support one platform or all of them using a common backend like UE5 or Unity.
Some people might point out that Android and iOS might also be considered rival storefronts to the same developer and customer except that there is very little app parity between the two. iOS hoovers up the majority of quality premium games and apps and Android gets squat.
Android sits on more $300 phones than it does $1300 ones and those are customers who whom a $300 phone is a lot of money and as such do not have the income to buy apps. This is why the F2P market is so big: most players don't actually pay anything and its only a few high rollers that bankroll the title. Devs also have to support a wide variety of hardware configs
iPhones tend to be owned by more affluent users who can afford the prices of apps up front or as a sub.
See above (may have added the link by editing): I suspect they‘d check your phone‘s location.
So I move my residence to the EU for four months, the phone recognises I am 'resident' there and allows me to install an alternative app marketplace.
Then at the end of the four months I move my residence to somewhere outside the EU -what happens to the apps I installed from the alternative app marketplace?
Do they disappear, only to reappear when the phone detects I have again moved my residence back to the EU?