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U.S. Government to Investigate Sideloading and Web App Restrictions on iOS
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$$Per the U.S. Congressional report, Android would need major changes as well. Congress viewed 3rd party stores and side loading as having no effect on Google's dominance.
Looking forward to articles by MR on issues related to exploited phones or bricked phones from side-loading and all the complaints about Apple when they refuse to fix them under warranty.
Then what is the point of forcing side loading? Millions of people should be rushing to side load if it were really going to provide a net advantage to consumers.
And this is the point at which “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you” comes home to roost.
If the option is there and people don’t want to use it, it’s not about competition anymore.
Apple should be getting way more grief over their refusal to support PWA. They give it all this nonsense about supporting small devs but that’s a load of baloney all the time they cripple PWA.
I can’t afford to support iPhone users as my app is free for old folks to help them with technology. It’s a labour of love but Apple wants their £100 dev fee and ridiculous notary obligations when I could write a PWA once and be done.
When you experience that first hand there is little else to explain Apple’s stance than greed. Sheer naked greed.
I have been computing and programming for over 45 years now. I have chosen Apple's ecosystem, and specifically iOS, because it has enhanced security (just because no security system is perfect doesn't mean it is better to choose lower security over higher security). My guess is my computer skills and knowledge are as 'evolved' as yours. The developers will leave the App store in droves because they want to make a buck. The App store will become unviable and then the only apps available will not be audited at all. Again, this will lower consumer choice, for there will be no system with a viable walled garden. You, and the lawmakers and government officials considering this folly, need to think more than one step ahead.
If you don't want a walled garden, then you are free to buy a device from another company. Vote with your wallet. I have. I have not bought any Apple devices since Apple threatened to install CSAM-detecting spying software in iOS.
EU junior over here. It’s going to be so great when the iPhone sucks. And then best option is the government phone that has every text going through government AI and share every bit of your personal data to everyone. That’s how the US will finally get health care.
Basically, Google was marketing Android as being "open" while setting up a lot of roadblocks for 3rd party stores.
Everyone who is complaining there is a very simple solution. Geez, just add a gatekeeper like in macOS and the option to uncheck it when don't want to use it. Quit complaining and be responsible you own the devices. its your right.
The more viable solution would be for the EU to regulate Android so that it's actually "open" like Google claims. Then consumers can choose between centralized and decentralized options in phones.
I have more than one device with more than one operating system with more than one browser. I work in academia. Web apps used in the higher education sector are godawful. Poor user interfaces, lack of accessibility, unstable, slow,...
It seems then, we agree that anything that threatens the viability of the App Store would be a bad thing. We appear to disagree about whether sideloading would be a threat. Fair enough. Neither of us knows for sure, but in my position's defence I would ask that you compare the enforced iOS app store to the optional MacOS App store. It is night and day, and many cross-platform apps offered in the iOS app store are not offered in the MacOS app store. Again, I believe developers will go for making more money over contributing to a secure software ecosystem. And have no doubts about this: the people pressuring for opening up the iOS system want to make money from doing so and they don't give a toss about collective security.
The success of the App Store already provides the answer. If a majority of app developers preferred the "run your own global store on the internet" approach then they would have stuck with desktop/laptop and the App Store would have failed.
Perhaps you're right, but I consider it quite a risk if you are not. I believe we as consumers already have a choice. We can buy products that aren't Apple's.
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Perfect timing:
“but today a small number of dominant Internet platforms use their power to exclude market entrants, to extract monopoly profits…”
Apple Reports 2Q 2022 Results: $25.0B Profit on $97.3B Revenue, Best March Quarter Ever
“but today a small number of dominant Internet platforms use their power to exclude market entrants, to extract monopoly profits…”
No, we don’t agree on that. If a third party App Store better met the needs of users then I wouldn’t care if its existence threatens the viability of the App Store. It just seems unlikely for something like that to occur, given how often people stick with easy to change defaults, for whatever reason.
The macOS App Store, like the Windows store, is an entirely different universe. For decades, the default on computers was to go to a company’s website to download the program. It’s also likely that computer users have something specific in mind when looking for an app, rather than for something to download to kill time on the bus or whatever. Apples and oranges.
And have no doubts about this: the people pressing to keep the iOS system closed want to make money from doing so.
It's not a matter of making the app available and making it easy to find, it's a matter of fighting copycats, pirated copies, other app stores making deals with said copycats, and so on. Developers are at much higher risk of losing sales because their competitions will simply drown them out.
Developers already have to deal with some of that in the current app stores but at least it is a one-time thing to reject copycats by revoking their certificate and banning the developer accounts (yes, it takes forever for Apple and Google to react to this).
None of that will happen in the other app stores unless there's a dedicated team behind it as well but then other app stores will exist as well.
The said clones have no obligation to protect anyone's privacy, more willing to sell their private data, and so on. If they lose their account, they'll just make another one.
That's why firewalls, antimalware solutions exist on desktop platforms in the first place, we can block outgoing connections by default with any software we install. We can use sandboxed VMs as well. None of that exists on the mobile platforms but will have to be built if this goes through.
Of course several years after this goes into effect, we will see a government panel studying why there is such a security problem with mobile apps, and why couldn't the manufacturers put in some mechanism to block malicious apps.