EU officials are not happy with how Apple is handling Progressive Web Apps
Some European lawmakers allege that Apple is shirking its responsibility to comply with the Digital Markets Act by removing Progressive Web Apps -- and are preparing to launch an investigation.
EU prepares to probe Apple over Progressive Web App issues
In early February, European Union users began noticing that Progressive Web Apps weren't working properly in iOS 17.4. At the time, the issue wasn't immediately clear.
It was later found out that, due to security and privacy considerations, Apple opted to remove the Home Screen web apps feature in the EU. The company cited concerns about potential misuse by malicious web apps, given that third-party browsers will be available.
However, as the Financial Times points out, the European Commission believes Apple may be limiting routes developers can take to avoid Apple's 30% App Store commission fee. The move has landed Apple in hot water once again as lawmakers send information requests to both the company and app developers.
"We are indeed looking at the compliance packages of all gatekeepers, including Apple," the European Commission said in a statement. "In that context, we're in particular looking into the issue of progressive web apps, and can confirm sending the requests for information to Apple and to app developers, who can provide useful information for our assessment."
Apple did not provide a new comment to Financial Times. Instead, it reiterated that the change would affect only a small number of users overall.
Support for Progressive Web Apps has never been fantastic. However, their removal is perplexing, given Apple's previous stance on the matter. Apple has utilized the existence of this functionality as an anti-trust defense on a global level.
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Comments
Now they are dictating what features Apple must develop. That could be justifiable for privacy and security issues. This isn’t that. Go to the web browser of your choice and open the website. Done.
heck, they could strip the option of making phone calls. It’s not up to the eh to chart what features a company offers.
Can't imagine anyone demanding a non-Euro mouse later in 2024 to avoid USB C.
Make a progress.
But I really really hope and pray that Apple simply says "ENOUGH!!"
And they pull the iPhone OUT of the EU countries, ....seriously !!
What will the EU and users in the EU do ??
Sue Apple, because they HAVE TO be forced to sell the iPhone in the EU ?
Will EU users be forced to "choose" Android phones ?? ...a choice they've always had, to this very moment
Talk about inflicting some real inconvenience on those EU users, if Apple said go eff yourselves, and buy Android !!!
PS
And of course, the black market for iPhones would be huge BUT at least Apple can manufacture the iPhone they deem, with the software and functionality they deem,
and the EU users would again have the choice they have always had;
Android or Black market iPhone, but with an iPhone as it was intended to be manufactured and delivered by Apple
And in case you didn't know, MWC2024 started here in Barcelona today and the opening speech made a big play for Open Gateway which already has 65% of the world's telecos onboard with the biggest proponents being the big EU players.
'Cloud phones' are already a reality and I hear there were high performance XR demos running at the different stands with all the heavy loading being done at the ICT edge, not the handset.
It might be worth keeping an eye on where that goes because in just two years, great strides have been made.
The network itself is looking to become more than a simple transport pipeline and who holds the keys to that gate?
Here’s what will happen: Apple will explain to the EU that their rules require that PWAs run on ANY browser engine. Some alternate browser engines are fine, like DuckDuckGo and Firefox, which are more-or-less as private and secure as Safari’s engine. Other ones, even well-known ones like Chrome, act as a pipeline of information about the user and their choices direct to the engine maker, i.e. Google. Others that might get into the business of browser engines might seek to open up attack vectors to the device. This effectively defeats Apple’s efforts to protect users on the web.
AAPL: "Ok. All their services get worse"
EU: "grrrrr"
EU learns now what "Trade-Off" means.
If you do not like how a company operates then do not give them more money. There is a competitive alternative, Android, and there is just getting a non-smart phone. I will never get buying something and then trying to force a company to change the business model to better suit a customer.
BTW you own the phone but definitely do not own the software (iOS), but instead have a license to use it under the restrictions Apple imposes for doing so. It is safe to say anything that has software on it cannot be completely owned by the end user.
You will never own any software unless you write it yourself and even that could be sticky if it includes the licensed work of others (GPL for starters).
It is not a big leap from forcing Apple to implement certain features (alternative App Store, access to API's, unlimited free distribution of apps, etc) to forcing Tesla to unlock their paid software features to Tesla owners or requiring shared access to its superchargers by non-Tesla owners (I realize Tesla is doing something like this by choice).
Microsoft and Amazon are onboard. Most Telcos are also already onboard with others interested.
Today, there was a big push at the opening of MWC2024 by the CEO of Telefonica.
That's normal considering MWC is GSMA territory.
The telcos have been pushing Big Tech for years for them to help finance development of communications pipelines. That hasn't played out (the EU has resisted their efforts) so it seems like they are changing tack.
https://www.gsma.com/solutions-and-impact/gsma-open-gateway/what-is-gsma-open-gateway/