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I get the feeling very long term this might not turn out well for end users. If Apple makes this change then Chrome will grow to dominate even more so than now. The Safari user base will shrink away to nothing. Apple will spend fewer resources developing Safari because of its disappearing user base. More people will move to Chrome. And the cycle will keep repeating until there is only one viable player in the market, Chrome. And in the end that will be bad for users.

I doubt it. Most mobile users couldn't care less what browser they use. In fact apple maps is used by most people with iPhones (there was a study) and it is terrible.
 
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To be honest safari and apple mail are fine for me. Use them everyday with no issues.

I would however, as others have mentioned, prefer to have google maps as default and replace Siri with something more useful like google now.
 
Given the various unfixed issues with Mail on IOS 13 maybe they realize (hah!) that forcing people to use craptastic software and unrealistically crippiled products elsewhere might not be a good thing for PR over the long term. Now if they'd just make it easier to customize the home screens and join the 2020s.

.... oh sorry, I just had a daydream there. Sorry 'bout that!

Edit: Maybe they're trying to get ahead of, if not stave off, new anti-trust attacks from DOJ/Congress? *shrug*
"forcing people"? You do know there are lots of other mail apps available? doesn't sound like forcing to me. also, I like the stock apps, not "craptastic" at all, but if you prefer different ones, as many people do, go to App Store, click it, search for mail, and download the one you like
 
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I get the feeling very long term this might not turn out well for end users. If Apple makes this change then Chrome will grow to dominate even more so than now. The Safari user base will shrink away to nothing. Apple will spend fewer resources developing Safari because of its disappearing user base. More people will move to Chrome. And the cycle will keep repeating until there is only one viable player in the market, Chrome. And in the end that will be bad for users.

Apple generally limits what browsers can do on mobile so they are mostly just different skins and feature sets over the same engine. I use Safari on iOS because I like it better than mobile Chrome whereas Chrome is my choice on MacOS because Safari is not so great there. Being able to set the default browser won't change this situation at all. Most people will still stick to whatever is default for the system.

Choosing default apps is such standard functionality that it should have been there years ago. It's completely ridiculous.

If Apple wants to compete with their own apps, they should decouple them from OS updates and make them update over App Store like any app.
 
I doubt it. Most mobile users couldn't care less what browser they use. In fact apple maps is used by most people with iPhones (there was a study) and it is terrible.
most of your comment was spot on, but maps is great! If you try to make it work like google maps, you might not like it, but hey, if you want google maps to work like Apple Maps it does a poor job too. choice of Maps, and other apps, are more of an issue of preference now as they all well exceed the minimum criteria of functionality. One preference over another does not make terrible.
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Apple generally limits what browsers can do on mobile so they are mostly just different skins and feature sets over the same engine. I use Safari on iOS because I like it better than mobile Chrome whereas Chrome is my choice on MacOS because Safari is not so great there. Being able to set the default browser won't change this situation at all. Most people will still stick to whatever is default for the system.

Choosing default apps is such standard functionality that it should have been there years ago. It's completely ridiculous.

If Apple wants to compete with their own apps, they should decouple them from OS updates and make them update over App Store like any app.
yah, they are strangely selling free apps for free. I guess if they were concerned about competing, they would allow other apps into the App Store. oh.....wait
 
most of your comment was spot on, but maps is great! If you try to make it work like google maps, you might not like it, but hey, if you want google maps to work like Apple Maps it does a poor job too. choice of Maps, and other apps, are more of an issue of preference now as they all well exceed the minimum criteria of functionality. One preference over another does not make terrible.
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yah, they are strangely selling free apps for free. I guess if they were concerned about competing, they would allow other apps into the App Store. oh.....wait

For me it doesn't work for one simple reason. There is a delay between where I am on the road to what's showing on the maps sat nav. This has caused me to miss turnings multiple times. I always just end up going back to google as I don't have this problem. Seems strange that a 1st party optimised app has a delay. Maybe its just my location.
 
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I get the feeling very long term this might not turn out well for end users. If Apple makes this change then Chrome will grow to dominate even more so than now. The Safari user base will shrink away to nothing. Apple will spend fewer resources developing Safari because of its disappearing user base. More people will move to Chrome. And the cycle will keep repeating until there is only one viable player in the market, Chrome. And in the end that will be bad for users.

If Safari is actually objectively better than Chrome, and Chrome is really that bad for users, then Apple shouldn't need to rely on walled-garden gimmicks to win that fight. Let it be a meritocracy where users are the judges.
 
Snark 1:
Really, Bloomberg? But you will have to solder a Chinese spy chip in your iPhone first.

Snark 2:
Sure. But just like MacOS, you will have to configure Mail to read your mail from a real account before you can go in to Preferences and set something else as the default.
 
I would much rather have third-party browsers on tvOS than allow third-party browsers as default on iOS.
 
If Safari is so good it should be able to stand on its merits and Apple should be able to demonstrate its superiority to iPhone iOS users. Why would users choose Chrome if it was worse than Safari? Like any business or product, let the market decide. If few people choose Safari so be it.
I think lots of iPhone users may own a Chromebook or Windows and would like things in sync.
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How about opening up Safari to Chromebook and Windows users.
 
This is overdue, as is as that other browsers can use their own rendering engine. Safari is huge block on the development of the web. macOS, iOS, and therefore Safari are the only plaforms and browsers which have only incomplete support for Opus.
 
This (along with allowing Spotify on HomePod) underlines the key differences between iOS (Apple) and Android (Google).

  • Android started off wide open and over the years Google has been trying to reign things in by adding privacy/security related functions or restricting what Apps can do/have access to.
  • iOS started off restrictive and over the years Apple has been opening things up to developers while still maintaining privacy/security.


So we have Google restricting the functionality of one area while Apple opens it up with the end result being both having similar functionality. They just came from opposite ends.


The problem for Google is it’s difficult to “fix” things by starting to impose restrictions on what was once a wide open OS. Users, developers and OEMs all get upset when things that used to work (or things they used to do) no longer work.
 
I get the feeling very long term this might not turn out well for end users. If Apple makes this change then Chrome will grow to dominate even more so than now. The Safari user base will shrink away to nothing. Apple will spend fewer resources developing Safari because of its disappearing user base. More people will move to Chrome. And the cycle will keep repeating until there is only one viable player in the market, Chrome. And in the end that will be bad for users.
The only way that would be true would be if users choose chrome on iOS over safari. If the users (people who spend over 1000 on a phone) want to use chrome as the default, then who is Apple to stop them from doing so? It's a market, competition is good, is it not?
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Rather than merely being allowed to choose our default browser, I wonder if Apple will also allow Chrome, et. al to use their own renderers. If not, then all that's really happening is that webkit will continue to dominate iOS, rather than the likes of other web renderers such as blink.
 
That totally doesn’t happen to me. Are you on latest iOS? I go to contacts, or notes where I saved a map link and press, opens smooth as can be

if you are honestly having this problem, more specifics might help
What more specific do you want? Are you even reading what you are replying to? They don’t have Maps installed and is asking them to restore it when they click on certain things. They don’t want that. Simple. You jumping to a defensive state when there is no need for it is ridiculous.
 
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Only a moron can defend Safari in it's current state.
Your statement is demonstrably false as well as insulting. I'm quite happy with Safari in it's current state, and use it in preference to Chrome and Firefox, and I know quite a few other smart people who feel the same way.
 
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That's great for sure, but I would rather like to see them making their own apps better. This seems like giving up to me.
 
This (along with allowing Spotify on HomePod) underlines the key differences between iOS (Apple) and Android (Google).

  • Android started off wide open and over the years Google has been trying to reign things in by adding privacy/security related functions or restricting what Apps can do/have access to.
  • iOS started off restrictive and over the years Apple has been opening things up to developers while still maintaining privacy/security.


So we have Google restricting the functionality of one area while Apple opens it up with the end result being both having similar functionality. They just came from opposite ends.


The problem for Google is it’s difficult to “fix” things by starting to impose restrictions on what was once a wide open OS. Users, developers and OEMs all get upset when things that used to work (or things they used to do) no longer work.

You are right, but Apple has been doing the same thing as well. Look at the restrictions on location. Apple has slowly moved the bar to tighter restriction. A use can no longer choose "Always Allow" when first prompted. If they want to have an App that needs Always, they have to go in to settings. Even then, the user gets nagged about it. While that is a good thing for privacy, it sacrifices usability and customer experience.

Another example is macOS Apps and access to devices like the FaceTime camera and microphone. Again, while probably fine for personal users, it is a pain for Enterprises. The first time a user launches their WebEx/Teams/etc. app, they are prompted (not a great experience), but if they hit NO, they no longer can properly use those Apps. They have to go fix it in System Preferences. 99% of end users have no clue how to find it. As a result, Help Desk gets another ticket.

(I am not arguing that these restrictions are good or bad, and Apple does listen to it's Enterprise customers and has given us some ability to control these settings. But, these changes break Apps and can create a poor user experience.)
 
Cool but wake me up when I can finally lock apps with touchID / FaceID individually. It’s not that hard ... just let me toggle them in the settings menu or at least let me lock the „hidden“ folder in photos. A album called HIDDEN just asks to be opened by noisy people
 
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