U.S. Antitrust Legislation Would Require Users to Be Able to Delete All Pre-Installed Apple Apps [Updated]

[Khedron]

Ehm.. are you kidding me? you dont need to be tech-savvy to install something from appstore. if that is a synonym for tech-savvy people nowadays, then what would we call a people who can turn on a computer? An alien? Even my grandma knows how to install apps from appstore… i wonder how people were able to use dos awhile go when they even cannot tap nowadays…

It’s a very common condition.

Zoom not pre-installed? No problem just use the App Store.

Skype not pre-installed? No problem just use the App Store.

Viber not pre-installed? No problem just use the App Store.

WhatsApp not pre-installed? No problem just use the App Store.

Facebook Messenger not pre-installed? No problem just use the App Store.

FaceTime not pre-installed? Absolute catastrophe. Overthrowing the government and abolishing all restrictions on corporations is the only solution.

 

[MvdM]

What devices do these politicians use? Nokia’s from the 90s? Or do they get their iPhones setup by their assistants?

I think Apple has the right to install what they want. Even if they didn’t offer equal apps from other suppliers in the App Store. Want to use something different? Buy a different device.

Should all brands be forced to not install anything on any device? A Samsung tv with no smart tv apps? A Microsoft surface laptop without windows or a calendar app, notepad etc?

It shows again, politicians have absolutely no clue what they are talking about.

I am surprised he has a twitter account. https://mobile.twitter.com/davidcicilline Left my message to him.

 

[TracerAnalog]

No camera app. No calendar app. No photos app. No weather app. No wallet, notes, home, FaceTime,...

What a ludicrous bill. Who will define an "apple app"?

Awesome, I was waiting for this day. Hope the bill passes and we get a better device without the Bloatware/BloatApp and user get a choice to install/use their preferred apps ...

🧐 because it takes 5 minutes to remove the Apple apps?

 

[jwdsail]

I'd be concerned that this would disproportionately hurt those in areas without affordable high-speed internet? I mean, sure, you could use your entire first month cellular data cap just getting all the basic apps on your brand new phone... People in rural areas with 2MB DSL will have to wait how many days to have a phone they can actually use as intended?

There's a major disconnect here?

 

[robertcoogan]

Solution: Push more apps to run as services and native apps themselves will be reduced to icons/GUIs.

Oh wait.

 

[QCassidy352]

This is beyond asinine and would in no way help consumers.

 

[Soccerrick10]

It appears the governments definition of a monopoly is when you can make more money through innovation and hard work than they can steal from you as their “revenue”.

 

[FlyBry]

Microsoft was almost broken up because they installed IE on Windows PCs 25 years ago. What Apple, Microsoft, and Google have gotten away with the past 15 years or so is incredibly far beyond that.

This legislation makes total sense and I support it.

Monopolies are a bad thing folks.

This is a different situation. At that time IE was tightly integrated into the OS and it was impossible to separate it from the OS. Running another browser was not seamless.

 

[CarlJ]

They should give these lawmakers a phone with literally NO apps on it - just a big ol' empty home screen with the clock and signal strength at the top and zero icons to tap, and force them to live with just that, with no access to their normal phone, for a couple days, to let them consider the full implications of their logic.

 

[Trenches]

The bill is entitled CYDIA-PAID-US-OFF-IN-BITCOIN Act of 2021.

 

[Realityck]

I was wondering if there was some bias at play here. From this article.

Indeed, my sources in Congress say lawmakers are watching Epic v. Apple, which is expected to wrap up this week in a federal court in Oakland, California, with great interest. Both the House antitrust subcommittee (led by Democratic Congressman David Cicilline of Rhode Island) and the Senate antitrust subcommittee (led by Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota), have held hearings on app distribution through Apple’s App Store and Google Play.

Neither like Apple and Google app store and standard apps. The problem with this is that the bundled apps that come with a iPhone don't necessary end up being the only apps that people utilize. Each user can do whatever they want.

 

[Yojimbo007]

Moronic!

 

[michael31986]

um... how would we get the apps? Can't get rid of App Store lol! smh

 

[nikaru]

I have a better idea! 0 apps. You start up the phone for first time and then start hunting and catching apps in the real world like in Pokemon Go. It is fun, it is random, it is competitive and fair for everyone.

 

[palev]

no one isnt prohibiting you to still use the same apps. but it gives you to freedom not to install useless crap in your phone.

Just delete the apps you don't want. Just because you don't want to delete them, doesn't mean I should have to waste my time installing the things that should be there, IMHO, by default.

 

[MauiPa]

How about smart TVs, no apps preinstalled? Xbox, better allow for other game stores. How about kindles, third party readers?

 

[RedRage]

Why are y'all crying? You're just gonna restore your new phone with a copy of your old phone. You're not going to have to download everything again. This will only affect new iphone users. People are adults. They'll figure it out.

 

[MauiPa]

I have a better idea! 0 apps. You start up the phone for first time and then start hunting and catching apps in the real world like in Pokemon Go. It is fun, it is random, it is competitive and fair for everyone.

Why does it even need to be fair. It is apples IP, they should be allowed to market it the way they want. There are a bazillion other phones. How about no os? You have to install your own on a raspberry piPhone

 

[falkon-engine]

The App Store is an Apple app, and is the sole App Store on the phone. So if that’s not allowed on my iPhone by default, where do I get my apps? Also, as far as I know, there’s no other phone app, so how do I even make any calls if the phone app is not allowed by default?

I don’t think this idea is workable at all, unless they also force Apple to open up certain critical iOS functionality to other alternatives: like alternatives to the phone app, iMessages, FaceTime, App Store, etc.

I think the better course of action is just to give consumers the choice of getting apps from another store if they so please.

Some of Apple’s apps are great like safari, iMessages, FaceTime, and so on.

 

[vipergts2207]

What devices do these politicians use? Nokia’s from the 90s? Or do they get their iPhones setup by their assistants?

I think Apple has the right to install what they want. Even if they didn’t offer equal apps from other suppliers in the App Store. Want to use something different? Buy a different device.

Should all brands be forced to not install anything on any device? A Samsung tv with no smart tv apps? A Microsoft surface laptop without windows or a calendar app, notepad etc?

It shows again, politicians have absolutely no clue what they are talking about.

I am surprised he has a twitter account. https://mobile.twitter.com/davidcicilline Left my message to him.

I think you perhaps should better understand why regulators are looking at Apple in the first place.

 

[Trenches]

Congress: “They’re just a series of marketplaces within a series of tubes.”

 

[QCassidy352]

It boggles my mind that any lawmaker could believe this sort of absolute nonsense is what they were elected to do. The US has no shortage of actual problems that lawmakers could try addressing; preinstalled FaceTime ain’t one of them.

 

[bluespark]

Although there are aspects of competition among tech giants that could be mandated by statute, this is not one of them, as it would never be clear what is an “app” and what is core functionality. Something like Messages, for example, looks like an app only because Apple has chosen to present it that way. That said, there’s not a chance this passes.

 

[The_Gream]

I know what Apple, Google and all the others can do - send new phones to all the people at Capital hill with no pre-installed apps and see how they like it - and they are not allowed to have their IT people/friends/offspring help them set up the phone.

 

[ignatius345]

Same thing that happened with MSFT? I think and search engines back in the 00's. First time you'd launch a random list of search engines would appear and you'd choose your default. But was meant to make it more fair?

I forget the specifics so I might be off a bit but very much remember that or something really close to that being a thing.

I think it's fair to go that route. First time you launch your phone, handful of apps you can choose from or something. I'd MUCH prefer that vs another app store on the devices.

In pretty much every case, I'd probably download Apple's apps anyway (because most of them are really good IMO) but I think having to compete would push them to put out better software.