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UK Regulator Blames Apple for Stifling Mobile Browser Competition

Arbuthnott said:
It's not hard to see all this as part of the same push to reduce system security - regardless of what opportunities it may allow bad actors, the UK Government does not want users being able to keep their stuff private
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That’s not correct. The U.K. government doesn’t want criminals to hide behind private walls. I would think that was the same in every country.
 
Aeronauts said:
That’s not correct. The U.K. government doesn’t want criminals to hide behind private walls. I would think that was the same in every country.
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That isn't how it works people should have a right to privacy and the goverment needs to build a case to charge someone with a crime without invading that right.
 
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Oh so it’s stifling by not just allowing the dozens of chromium browsers? Chromium is pretty much the IE of today. Nearly all major browsers are all Chromium. Brave, Edge, Chrome, Arc, etc. I’m glad iOS uses a different engine to promote competition.
 
spazzcat said:
That isn't how it works people should have a right to privacy and the goverment needs to build a case to charge someone with a crime without invading that right.
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They do. The police have to apply to the High Court for permission to access this data. If they don’t have any evidence, they won’t get the permission.

If the police suspect you of a crime they can apply for a search warrant to search your home. I don’t see any reason why your data in the cloud should be immune from this.
 
Ethosik said:
I’m glad iOS uses a different engine to promote competition.
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It's not promoting competition when you restrict competition (alternative browser engines) on a major platform. If Apple actually wants to help promote or create competition, perhaps they should make Safari/WebKit available on Windows and Android. Also, make Safari/WebKit better (or market it better) on iOS/iPadOS so that people would choose it over Chrome/Chromium because it's better and not just because they have to as it is now.
 
davide_eu said:
Why there are no comments like "leave uk"??
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Back in my day any articles about Apple and someone else butting heads would be met with angry comments about how Apple should just buy the opposing party!

IMG_5958.jpeg
 
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Knowing that Safari was always the first to fall in pwn2own and knowing that many of the flaws were easy to detect makes me believe that Apple talked about security but didn't care. They're somewhat better now, but I'd rather have Firefox as Firefox, which is more secure and even Chrome as Chrome.
 
Taipan said:
… on their own platform.
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Is that in response to the ask about non webkit browsers? If so, I mean, fix up Safari and make it less buggy if that's the only game in town. Otherwise open it up. Or is it that opening up the platform in that regard would show how behind Safari is?
 
TBH, I don't use a browser much on my iPhone. It is different on my iPad. On my Mac, I use Safari and Waterfox. I don't care what browser I use as long as it has no Chrome code in it. They are just evil data slurpers IMHO.
 
How is wrapping yet another Chromium engine in a UI “competition”?

We’ve got Chromium, WebKit, and whatever Firefox uses (gecko?). If anything the danger to the Internet is EVERYTHING becoming one engine.

I’d love for Apple to find a way to make chromium safe to use on their platform, but I can’t fathom how they would be able to do that as browser exploits are the largest non-human technical threat out there.
 
NT1440 said:
How is wrapping yet another Chromium engine in a UI “competition”?

We’ve got Chromium, WebKit, and whatever Firefox uses (gecko?). If anything the danger to the Internet is EVERYTHING becoming one engine.

I’d love for Apple to find a way to make chromium safe to use on their platform, but I can’t fathom how they would be able to do that as browser exploits are the largest non-human technical threat out there.
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Brave manages to do it well
 
webkit said:
It's not promoting competition when you restrict competition (alternative browser engines) on a major platform. If Apple actually wants to help promote or create competition, perhaps they should make Safari/WebKit available on Windows and Android. Also, make Safari/WebKit better (or market it better) on iOS/iPadOS so that people would choose it over Chrome/Chromium because it's better and not just because they have to as it is now.
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How about you look at my entire post in context. Isolating just that one statement is not approaching this conversation in good faith. That statement in isolation is clearly wrong, so please look at my entire comment.

Chromium use will increase to pretty much 99% marketshare if iOS wasn't locked down.
 
GimmeDatApple said:
I said 'they're' as in the UK, not the CMA. And guess what? The CMA is a UK regulatory body.

That's like saying that the NHS and the NHS England have nothing to do with each other.
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You’re implying that the UK operates as a whole, such that the CMA would find against Apple in retaliation against their stance on the IPA. I’m saying that “the UK” doesn’t work like that.

Your comparison is false. The NHS and NHS England do have a lot to do with each other, obviously. The CMA is a body. The IPA is an Act of Parliament, a law. The CMA has no care whatsoever about the IPA.
 
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Will Co said:
You’re implying that the UK operates as a whole, such that the CMA would find against Apple in retaliation against their stance on the IPA. I’m saying that “the UK” doesn’t work like that.

Your comparison is false. The NHS and NHS England do have a lot to do with each other, obviously. The CMA is a body. The IPA is an Act of Parliament, a law. The CMA has no care whatsoever about the IPA.
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Go to bed.
 
spazzcat said:
It a web browser, it servers up web pages there really isn't any money to be made creating browsers that is why there are not more of them.
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There’s a ton of money if your “browser” is just a reskinned chromium which itself is basically an advertising and data collection platform.
 
Ridge Racer said:
No you don't. You have 3 different front-ends to the same browser engine (Webkit). Those three "different" browsers won't render sites any differently or better than any other, or offer newer web features that aren't present in WebKit.
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This is an important point.

And to that point, chromium dominates the browser world. Heck, even Microsoft’s own browser is chromium based.

So what is the UK doing to save the world from chromium?
 
Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Unlike in the US, Apple doesn’t have a commanding share of the market in the U.K. and Europe. They’re a bit player.

The EU rules on browsers have seen third party browsers surge in popularity in terms of installs - but have they really made much of a difference. I have four browsers on my iDevices and I use Safari for 90% of the stuff I do. Why? The UI is better. The remaining 10% is Chrome, Opera and iCab (for nostalgia sake).

I don’t understand why lesser products need a leg up. Apple never got a leg up when it had a tiny market share and was struggling under the Windows monopoly - and it was definitely the better product. How about forcing Microsoft or any multibillion dollar company, even Apple, to make their software available on all platforms. Some people might want Final Cut and Logic back on Windows.
 
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I’ve had to stop using Safari on iPhone.
When I upgraded my os about a year ago it’s become unusable.
Webpages take for ever to load.
And no update since has fixed this issue.

-AE
 
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