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Just look at the companies complaining:
Spotify,
Meta,
Tencent,
Epic Games (Tencent),
ByteDance (Tencent),
Microsoft,
Google.

"nothing major", these are the biggest companies in the techworld.

They want sideloading so they can avoid the Apple tax. It's all about money.

Spotify and Facebook will never be removed from the built-in App Store - the number of eyeballs on that store is huge and most users simply won't bother sideloading - but they may offer enhanced apps outside of the store maybe.
 
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No but the main reason that say Fortnite (Epic) wants sideloading is so they can avoid the Apple tax.
It's their story for the average Joe. In reality they want to be the taxing boi and be able to sell games on the lucrative platform.
 
A simple way to manage sideloading? Just place another ToS before you install your first non-App Store app that put responsibility on the user. It would be no different than installing a non-App Store app on your PC/Mac at that point.
 
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iPhone users in the EU next year will be able to download apps hosted outside of Apple's official App Store to comply with European regulations, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

General-iOS-17-Feature-Blue-Green.jpg

Otherwise known as sideloading, the change coming sometime in the first half of 2024 will allow customers to download apps without needing to use the App Store, which will mean developers won't need to pay Apple's 15 to 30 percent fees.

Writing in the latest subscriber edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman said Apple will introduce a "highly controlled system" that lets EU users install apps hosted elsewhere. Apple also will reportedly alter Messages and payment apps as part of the changes, likely via a localized iOS 17 update.

Gurman's update contradicts a recent report that suggested sideloading could arrive with Apple's iOS 17.2 software update, which is expected to be released next month. The report mistook as sideloading-related some new code that has to do with an upcoming framework for organizations to distribute apps to employees.

The European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which went 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 big impact on Apple's platforms, and it could result in Apple making major changes to the ‌App Store‌, Messages, FaceTime, Siri, and more.

Apple has claimed that sideloading will "undermine the privacy and security protections" that iPhone users rely on, leaving people vulnerable to malware, scams, data tracking, and other issues. Regardless of its stance, Apple must comply with the DMA or it risks fines of as much as 20 percent of its global revenue if the EU laws are violated.

In a December 2022 report, Gurman said Apple was considering implementing security requirements such as verification, a process that it could charge a fee for in lieu of collecting money from app sales. Apple has a verification system on Mac that allows users to be safe while giving them access to apps outside of the Mac App Store.

If other countries introduce similar legislation, alternate app stores could conceivably expand beyond the European Union. The United States, for example, is considering legislation that would require Apple to allow sideloading.


Article Link: iPhone App Sideloading Coming to Users in the EU in First Half of 2024

I'm dreaming of sideloading a VMware app on an iPad to run macOS (using a mouse and keyboard of course).

And voila, best of both worlds : iPadOS and macOS on the same machine. Too good to be true?
 
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Why “highly controlled?” I’d let people have direct access to the file system and install whatever crap they want with the caveat that it is at their own risk and they will not receive warranty or tech support. Give them enough rope to hang themselves. Heck just disable the full disk encryption and app signing checks too. It’s a free region, people have the right to shoot themselves in the foot if they want to.
 
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Spot the folk who’ve never used an android before 😂

You have to take multiple steps before you can even download anything and you receive plenty of warnings.

Long as you’re downloading from sites you know like epic or Netflix then what’s the issue? Too many scared folk who need to broaden their horizons.
 
No, actually it's not simple. Once alternative App Stores with lower commission (or zero commission if you set up your own) become possible I very much expect the developers of some popular apps to make their apps only available that way, meaning it's no longer possible to get all the best apps in the Apple App Store.

I think we'll more likely see app developers offering their apps through multiple sources including Apple’s App Store. Only if they determine that alternative options work much better for them might some pull out of the App Store. The added competition could encourage Apple to make their App Store more appealing to users and developers.
 
Why should the EU be able to charge 20% of global revenue? It’s an American company, not an EU domiciled company, so surely, it should only be EU based revenue. I mean, not even the hegemonic US does that to US domiciled companies (the tax burden for global operations is based on the money the firm repatriates from abroad). The EU really seems to have small dog syndrome.
 
There's a distinction between wanting to have an open OS, and forcing access to proprietary resources owned by a company. The "duopoly" you're talking about exists as a natural response to a very complicated app ecosystem that will likely always have very few players.
My point exactly. It is a kind of natural duopoly, because the investment needed to establish another competitor are so astronomical, that even a giant like Microsoft can't pull it off.

But the larger point here is what you are saying shows that the efforts by the EU relative to the Apple App Store will very likely have ZERO impact on any of the concerns that the EU says they are trying to address.
I disagree. The mere possibility to establish an alternative App Store will keep Apple in check.
 
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I think we'll more likely see app developers offering their apps through multiple sources including Apple’s App Store. Only if they determine that alternative options work much better for them might some pull out of the App Store. The added competition could encourage Apple to make their App Store more appealing to users and developers.
Yeah, shady scammers will offer you their internet optimizers and iphone cleaners on every corner.

There's no competition in it, Android users don't buy anything, they made devs add 23525252 ads to apps so even if you pirate app they'll get couple cents from ads. It's called degradation, not competition.
 
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People keep comparing this to MacOS but don't seem to be smart enough to realize the data on your phone is significantly more sensitive than the data on your MacBook. Health, Payment, Accounts, contacts, etc. Most of this data I believe is stored on device as part of Apple's "Privacy" efforts. You know all those times Craig or Tim said "And it all stays on device so we can't see a thing!". That's what is at stake basically.

Lets not forget the whole reason this issue keeps coming up over and over again is due to the usual: Money

These massive corps don't want to pay Apple's tax because it's in the millions and sometimes billions.

It's not about freedom. It is literally a money play. I say that as both a Software Developer and happy Apple user.

And for people who will inevitably say "You don't have to use side loading if you don't want to!"...I find it hard to believe companies won't make whatever the third party App Store version of their iOS/iPadOS app cheaper than on the official App Store. It is quite literally inevitable since it gives them leeway to not be as scrutinized in Apple's privacy efforts 🙂
The information on my Macbook is waay more sensitive than my phone. My MacBook is where all my valuable business data is which is worth far more than my messages and contacts. The argument that 'my phone needs to be more secure' is completely illogical.

And yes, it's about Money! Apples money! They want all the loot for themselves instead of spreading it around to the little guy. You made the correct point but you chose the worlds most valuable company over the millions of other businesses in the world, congratulations for being on the side of the Empire and helping them build the death star.
 
What duopoly?

In phone sales? There are many more than two sellers of phones.

In OS? There's IOS, and then there's Android OS, which is an open-source OS. Many manufacturers modify Android, are free to modify it. Thus, there are not only "two" OS's, but many OS's.

So, what duopoly?

Just because phone makers are able to make some Android modifications doesn't necessarily take away from Android's market share nor mean there is no Android/iOS duopoly. Computer makers were/are also able to make some Windows modifications on machines they sell but that didn't/doesn't take away from Windows' market share in desktop OS.
 
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The information on my Macbook is waay more sensitive than my phone. My MacBook is where all my valuable business data is which is worth far more than my messages and contacts. The argument that 'my phone needs to be more secure' is completely illogical.
No banking apps? No Apple Pay? Or you will understand only after you get a text at 3AM that some boi in Singapore paid for Disneyland tickets with your card.
 
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You already have the choice.

Supporting a government mandate on how Apple must construct their private OS is the antithesis of "each to their own."
But that's exactly how the world works. Have you noticed what other countries do?

Brasil has prohibitively high import taxes on electronics, to entice companies to produce locally. India does the same. China disallows many categories of apps like VPNs and social networks and also mandates that customer data is stored by companies under party control. In China soon all app developers will have to have a local subsidiary to offer apps there. Apple in all of the above cases complies.
 
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Happy to see that this time we in the EU get some good stuff first after waiting years for Apple Pay 😉
Looking forward to finally being able to install emulators on my iPhone, was always bugging me that Apple didn’t allow those 😁
 
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