Apple Working to Add Support for Sideloading and Alternate App Stores in Europe

[Samplasion]

Just because they can doesn't mean they should. They already have tons of customers that go in for "fixes" because they barely understand how to use their devices as is. Now add to that the "I know better than Apple" idiots? Good luck making an appointment for something that truly went wrong with a device for a legit reason. Yeah, I get the people that are "my device, my choice" blah, blah, blah. Those same people are the first in line to blame Apple for something they themselves screwed up and want Apple to fix it free of charge.

It's pretty hard to imagine an app so powerful that it not only bypasses Apple's sandbox, but it even goes on to damage the device's internals. If such an app could exist, it would exist right now.

That means your comment refers to one of two things:
1. You're talking about software issues. Good news! Those aren't covered by warranties (in the traditional sense) so nothing is gained and nothing is lost.
2. You're talking about hardware issues. Those are and will continue to be covered by warranties and AppleCare and such, provided they're accidental and not caused by the user (perforce by mishandling the device, according to the above). So, nothing is different from now.

Besides, Apple's tech support doesn't really care about the software installed, as proven by the countless reports of people who got their phones repaired (for hardware issues) after jailbreaking.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

I wonder who Biden is referring to here?

“When tech platforms get big enough, many find ways to promote their own products while excluding or disadvantaging competitors—or charge competitors a fortune to sell on their platform,” Biden writes. “To realize that vision, and to make sure American tech keeps leading the world in cutting-edge innovation, we need fairer rules of the road.”

 

[I7guy]

I wonder who Biden is referring to here?

Don’t know. But when government gets involved it’s usually to the detriment of all concerned*

*except when they stick to what they should be doing, which is not this. (Says the guy who can’t collect his scraps of papers)

 

[NEPOBABY]

Nepo baby influencers with large followings who are already known to run scams will definitely ask their followers to sideload an app, steal as much data and maybe also money from them, and sell that data to other scamfluencers. They think their connections make them above the law because they got away with scams so many times.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Don’t know. But when government gets involved it’s usually to the detriment of all concerned*

*except when they stick to what they should be doing, which is not this. (Says the guy who can’t collect his scraps of papers)

Sounds like Joe is just thinking about the little guys, the mom-and-pop shops

“My vision for our economy is one in which everyone — small and midsized businesses, mom-and-pop shops, entrepreneurs — can compete on a level playing field with the biggest companies.”

 

[I7guy]

Sounds like Joe is just thinking about the little guys, the mom-and-pop shops

Doesn’t mean it’s a right vision, a good vision or one that will result in a net positive.

 

[BaldiMac]

I wonder who Biden is referring to here?

Apple seems to be your implication. They'd certainly generate the headlines. But there are far more important examples that would have a significant impact on the US economy. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta being the primary examples. Companies that have no effective competition in their primary markets while affecting astounding amounts of revenue.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Apple seems to be your implication. They'd certainly generate the headlines. But there are far more important examples that would have a significant impact on the US economy. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta being the primary examples. Companies that have no effective competition in their primary markets while affecting astounding amounts of revenue.

Maybe. The DOJ have involved themselves in Apples legal issues already, they are obviously on their radar

 

[I7guy]

Maybe. The DOJ have involved themselves in Apples legal issues already, they are obviously on their radar

Being on the radar doesn’t mean anything will change.

 

[BaldiMac]

Maybe. The DOJ have involved themselves in Apples legal issues already, they are obviously on their radar

Of course they are. That doesn't affect my point.

 

[strongy]

You are missing the point. Now that Apple has competition with other app stores, they may scale back the 30% fee since large apps might abandon the app store and go to cheaper ones. Apple might cut it's fee to 5% thus allowing apps to stay. In the end, you might see apps charging less since they dont' have a 30% fee. it's a win for consumers.

you got that wrong they'll increase the fee, they'll increase the membership cost or they'll just straight up start charging for everything in that percentage it means dev's will be worse off than they are now if you think any other store is going to actually be cheaper you have not seriously done your homework percentages used to be way higher

 

[strongy]

not to mention being able to buy kindle books from my kindle app.. preventing this has always been one of apple's scummiest moves.

actually Amazon is the one that does not allow you to buy kindle books

 

[AppliedMicro]

you got that wrong they'll increase the fee, they'll increase the membership cost

So may it be.

Thankfully, the DMA requires that third-party applications will be installable without signing up to Apple's App Store.

 

[strongy]

So may it be.

Thankfully, the DMA requires that third-party applications will be installable without signing up to Apple's App Store.

thankfully they are entitled to their platform fee as stated by the eu court case

 

[Abazigal]

So may it be.

Thankfully, the DMA requires that third-party applications will be installable without signing up to Apple's App Store.

Apple is still entitled to some degree of vetting when it comes to third party apps, apparently.

I am very intrigued though. There has long been chatter that Apple possesses some kind of kill switch on their devices which they can use to remote-wipe an app if need be, though Apple has never used it, so nobody can really confirm nor deny the existence of such a feature.

It would be interesting if, after side-loading is enabled, some particularly heinous malware does end up getting installed on iOS devices, necessitating that Apple activate the aforementioned kill switch for the first time.

 

[AppliedMicro]

thankfully they are entitled to their platform fee as stated by the eu court case

Not sure which case you‘re referring to.
I‘m only aware of the EU court case regarding their taxation in Ireland?!
You’re not talking about the Dutch ACM case, are you?

In any case, any court decision precedes this new Union regulation (or „federal law“, as US Americans would call it). So any prior court decision, let alone by lower member state courts contradicting the new law is quite meaningless.

 

[AppliedMicro]

Apple is still entitled to some degree of vetting when it comes to third party apps, apparently.

“The gatekeeper shall not be prevented from taking, to the extent that they are strictly necessary and proportionate, measures to ensure that third-party software applications or software application stores do not endanger the integrity of the hardware or operating system provided by the gatekeeper, provided that such measures are duly justified by the gatekeeper.”

Considering that prior vetting is a requirement
a) neither on Android OS
b) nor on macOS or Windows
c) nor for Apple’s paying enterprise certificate developers (which some of their highest-profile ones having been caught misusing them)
d) that hasn’t prevented a number of obvious scam or phishing apps from being admitted to the store
e) has failed to enforce Apple’s own rules on apps, as demonstrated by Fortnite’s release of their own IAP system
…I very much doubt that they can show or justify that all apps must be vetted and approved by Apple before being installable - let alone that that would enable Apple to replace their 30% commission rates, as some have alluded to.

That said, I could imagine that they may be able to justify an app signing requirement. Or additional user interface hurdles making it more difficult to install and run unsigned apps - similar to what they’re doing on macOS. That could act as such a kill switch.

 

[4743913]

actually Amazon is the one that does not allow you to buy kindle books

actually Amazon doesn't want to pay apple 30% for absolutely nothing, so apple does not allow you to buy kindle books.

 

[BaldiMac]

actually Amazon doesn't want to pay apple 30% for absolutely nothing, so apple does not allow you to buy kindle books.

That's some weird logic. It's Amazon's choice whether to offer their products through Apple's platform at the price that Apple charges. Just like any other sales platform. In fact, despite choosing not to sell books through Apple's platform, Apple still allows them to distribute their books through Apple's platform for the low, low price of $99/year.

 

[4743913]

That's some weird logic. It's Amazon's choice whether to offer their products through Apple's platform at the price that Apple charges. Just like any other sales platform.

my phone should not be a sales platform. apple's greed is out of control.

 

[BaldiMac]

my phone should not be a sales platform.

I think most people want to be able to buy things on iOS.

 

[strongy]

actually Amazon doesn't want to pay apple 30% for absolutely nothing, so apple does not allow you to buy kindle books.

so amazon is indeed the one that does now allow it their are no restrictions on apples side so nothing to do with apple's at all thanks for confirming that

 

[ifxf]

I should be able to use a browser based on something diiferent then Apple’s webkit

 

[4743913]

so amazon is indeed the one that does now allow it, nothing to do with apple's side at all thanks for confirming that

nope.

does apple take 30% of all sales in the amazon app?

 

[NEPOBABY]

It's pretty hard to imagine an app so powerful that it not only bypasses Apple's sandbox, but it even goes on to damage the device's internals. If such an app could exist, it would exist right now.

There have been apps trying to do it since the inception of the App Store, some have been successful at scamming users as you probably heard. Jobs spoke about it years ago, that an app would claim it was one thing but inside the app the devs hid secret functions.

Sandboxes aren’t lock tight because flaws in hardware components are always a work around. Side channel attacks in CPUs and memory leaks are always waiting in the future ready to be discovered and exploited. Just this month 31 vulnerabilities were discovered in AMD CPUs and we would be naive to believe they won’t appear on Apple Silicon.