Google's Chromium team working on non-WebKit browser for iOS

Comments

• Reply 1 of 23

  ihatescreennames Posts: 1,904member

  February 4, 2023 6:09PM

  What are the benefits to Google in using a non-WebKit based browser?

  
• Reply 2 of 23

  DAalseth Posts: 2,783member

  February 4, 2023 6:47PM

  ihatescreennames said:

  What are the benefits to Google in using a non-WebKit based browser?

  My guess would be the opportunity to do data mining. That’s why I won’t touch Chrome with a ten foot pole.

  
• Reply 3 of 23

  racerhomie3 Posts: 1,264member

  February 4, 2023 8:59PM

  I have seen the horrible battery life & sluggish performance given by Chromium on macOS by Edge. I prefer Edge on my iPads & iPhones much more than Edge on my macOS devices.
  
  If I didn’t know better I would have said macs have terrible battery life. No wonder iPads & the App Store are so valuable 

  edited February 2023
• Reply 4 of 23

  lkrupp Posts: 10,557member

  February 4, 2023 10:38PM

  DAalseth said:

  ihatescreennames said:

  What are the benefits to Google in using a non-WebKit based browser?

  My guess would be the opportunity to do data mining. That’s why I won’t touch Chrome with a ten foot pole.

  But on the Apple Discussion Forums the Chrome browser is has a constant presence with users always asking for help with problems they have using it on their Macs and iDevices. Chrome is by far the most popular browser in the world now. That’s why I’m always saying deep down people don’t care about their data being collected.
  
  And we should know by now that third party App stores are coming. They’ve been around for the Mac since day one and there’s no reason iOS won’t still thrive with them. Apple will make iOS as bulletproof as possible like macOS and let the consumer decide to screw themselves like they continue to do so on the Mac. 

  
• Reply 5 of 23

  lkrupp Posts: 10,557member

  February 4, 2023 10:39PM

  racerhomie3 said:

  I have seen the horrible battery life & sluggish performance given by Chromium on macOS by Edge. I prefer Edge on my iPads & iPhones much more than Edge on my macOS devices.
  
  If I didn’t know better I would have said macs have terrible battery life. No wonder iPads & the App Store are so valuable 

  Yet you reject Safari.

  
• Reply 6 of 23

  dope_ahmine Posts: 253member

  February 4, 2023 11:00PM

  DAalseth said:

  ihatescreennames said:

  What are the benefits to Google in using a non-WebKit based browser?

  My guess would be the opportunity to do data mining. That’s why I won’t touch Chrome with a ten foot pole.

  You mean a ten pixel pole? Cos Chrome is digital, you know.

  
• Reply 7 of 23

  racerhomie3 Posts: 1,264member

  February 5, 2023 3:02AM

  lkrupp said:

  racerhomie3 said:

  I have seen the horrible battery life & sluggish performance given by Chromium on macOS by Edge. I prefer Edge on my iPads & iPhones much more than Edge on my macOS devices.
  
  If I didn’t know better I would have said macs have terrible battery life. No wonder iPads & the App Store are so valuable 

  Yet you reject Safari.

  I am a massive Safari user. But I do keep Edge on my devices to see the features & other new things the competitors have implemented 

  
• Reply 8 of 23

  davgreg Posts: 1,037member

  February 5, 2023 5:06AM

  I think the option to use third party stuff should be strictly up to the end user, not some bureaucrat or weasel politician.
  To be honest, Apple needs a little competition in the iOS and iPad OS space for browsers. There is a lot of differentiation between browsers available on the Macintosh and what is offered on iOS/iPad OS since all are WebKit based.
  
  Here are the latest results of browser security on various operating systems.
  https://privacytests.org/ios.html
  
  
  

  
• Reply 9 of 23

  davgreg Posts: 1,037member

  February 5, 2023 5:09AM

  lkrupp said:

  DAalseth said:

  ihatescreennames said:

  What are the benefits to Google in using a non-WebKit based browser?

  My guess would be the opportunity to do data mining. That’s why I won’t touch Chrome with a ten foot pole.

  But on the Apple Discussion Forums the Chrome browser is has a constant presence with users always asking for help with problems they have using it on their Macs and iDevices. Chrome is by far the most popular browser in the world now. That’s why I’m always saying deep down people don’t care about their data being collected.
  
  And we should know by now that third party App stores are coming. They’ve been around for the Mac since day one and there’s no reason iOS won’t still thrive with them. Apple will make iOS as bulletproof as possible like macOS and let the consumer decide to screw themselves like they continue to do so on the Mac. 

  I was looking at the latest testing of browsers and Chrome on the Mac is about as wide open to vulnerabilities as you can find. https://privacytests.org/
  
  
• Reply 10 of 23

  danox Posts: 2,849member

  February 5, 2023 10:48PM

  ihatescreennames said:

  What are the benefits to Google in using a non-WebKit based browser?

  The benefits for Google, the wet dream of Google is to have Apple reduced to HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Intel level, where by Apple, just makes/provides hardware and Google gets to design and run the Internet on all popular computer hardware, with Apple being relegated to a bit player OEM hardware maker sitting on the sidelines providing generic hardware, and nothing else. Courtesy of the EU and the American government picking winners and losers.

  
  

  Apple being vertical is just too successful (it’s not the computing world they imagined 25 years ago), the other one percenters want to re-shuffle the deck, because they can’t compete with Apple straight up.

  
• Reply 11 of 23

  danox Posts: 2,849member

  February 5, 2023 11:07PM

  davgreg said:

  I think the option to use third party stuff should be strictly up to the end user, not some bureaucrat or weasel politician.
  To be honest, Apple needs a little competition in the iOS and iPad OS space for browsers. There is a lot of differentiation between browsers available on the Macintosh and what is offered on iOS/iPad OS since all are WebKit based.
  
  Here are the latest results of browser security on various operating systems.
  https://privacytests.org/ios.html
  
  

  
  

  Apple does have competition that competition begins when you buy the hardware you want to use. Apple is vertical computer company. Apple are the last vertical computer company in popular computing at worldwide scale, it’s not their fault that most the other vertical companies (Sun, Digital, Amiga, IBM, SGI), quit or that most people chose the Microsoft, Intel, Google way of doing things. 

  
  

  Apple, is not Microsoft, Google, Intel Dell, HP, nor should they be force to be like them in mediocrity, If those companies wanna compete they can compete, but they just see an easy way out, cry to a government, and they’ll change it for you by reshuffling the deck.

  edited February 2023
• Reply 12 of 23

  gatorguy Posts: 24,213member

  February 5, 2023 11:10PM

  danox said:

  ihatescreennames said:

  What are the benefits to Google in using a non-WebKit based browser?

  The benefits for Google, the wet dream of Google is to have Apple reduced to HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Intel level, where by Apple, just makes/provides hardware and Google gets to design and run the Internet on all popular computer hardware, with Apple being relegated to a bit player OEM hardware maker sitting on the sidelines providing generic hardware, and nothing else. Courtesy of the EU and the American government picking winners and losers.

  
  

  Apple being vertical is just too successful (it’s not the computing world they imagined 25 years ago), the other one percenters want to re-shuffle the deck, because they can’t compete with Apple straight up.

  The same rules that might require Apple to allow non-webkit browsers on iOS will be the same that allows non-Google default browsers on Android

  
• Reply 13 of 23

  danox Posts: 2,849member

  February 5, 2023 11:52PM

  gatorguy said:

  danox said:

  ihatescreennames said:

  What are the benefits to Google in using a non-WebKit based browser?

  The benefits for Google, the wet dream of Google is to have Apple reduced to HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Intel level, where by Apple, just makes/provides hardware and Google gets to design and run the Internet on all popular computer hardware, with Apple being relegated to a bit player OEM hardware maker sitting on the sidelines providing generic hardware, and nothing else. Courtesy of the EU and the American government picking winners and losers.

  
  

  Apple being vertical is just too successful (it’s not the computing world they imagined 25 years ago), the other one percenters want to re-shuffle the deck, because they can’t compete with Apple straight up.

  The same rules that might require Apple to allow non-webkit browsers on iOS will be the same that allows non-Google default browsers on Android. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  That has no meaning to Apple as a vertical computer company making Apple OS and Apple hardware, Apple doesn’t really have much of anything on Windows or Android except bridge utility and internet based programs, connecting their hardware to Windows primarily.
  
  The existence of Safari, Apple Maps, Apple Pay, iMessage programs, or Apple Watch, AirPods devices , or anything else that Apple creates is designed to support Apple’s ecosystems, they primarily exist for the purpose of selling hardware, supporting your competitors get you (Apple) nowhere see AAA games for the lack of Apple Mac support. 

  
  

  AAA gaming in the end can’t be solved until Apple just rolls up its sleeves and develops a couple of games to highlight their ecosystems ability to run AAA games, nothing will happen otherwise. And the same applies to everything else, Apple has had to do in the last 25 years. 

  
  

  That’s what happens when you’re vertical and that’s what also what happens when you have no monopoly in any computing area, you by necessity have to do the heavy, lifting yourself because no one else will.

  
• Reply 14 of 23

  michelb76 Posts: 618member

  February 6, 2023 2:17PM

  Hope this gets some competition going and further improves Safari.

  
• Reply 15 of 23

  avon b7 Posts: 7,667member

  February 6, 2023 3:15PM

  danox said:

  gatorguy said:

  danox said:

  ihatescreennames said:

  What are the benefits to Google in using a non-WebKit based browser?

  The benefits for Google, the wet dream of Google is to have Apple reduced to HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Intel level, where by Apple, just makes/provides hardware and Google gets to design and run the Internet on all popular computer hardware, with Apple being relegated to a bit player OEM hardware maker sitting on the sidelines providing generic hardware, and nothing else. Courtesy of the EU and the American government picking winners and losers.

  
  

  Apple being vertical is just too successful (it’s not the computing world they imagined 25 years ago), the other one percenters want to re-shuffle the deck, because they can’t compete with Apple straight up.

  The same rules that might require Apple to allow non-webkit browsers on iOS will be the same that allows non-Google default browsers on Android. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  That has no meaning to Apple as a vertical computer company making Apple OS and Apple hardware, Apple doesn’t really have much of anything on Windows or Android except bridge utility and internet based programs, connecting their hardware to Windows primarily.
  
  The existence of Safari, Apple Maps, Apple Pay, iMessage programs, or Apple Watch, AirPods devices , or anything else that Apple creates is designed to support Apple’s ecosystems, they primarily exist for the purpose of selling hardware, supporting your competitors get you (Apple) nowhere see AAA games for the lack of Apple Mac support. 

  
  

  AAA gaming in the end can’t be solved until Apple just rolls up its sleeves and develops a couple of games to highlight their ecosystems ability to run AAA games, nothing will happen otherwise. And the same applies to everything else, Apple has had to do in the last 25 years. 

  
  

  That’s what happens when you’re vertical and that’s what also what happens when you have no monopoly in any computing area, you by necessity have to do the heavy, lifting yourself because no one else will.

  There are plenty of 'vertical' manufacturers out there. None (including Apple) are anywhere near being 100% and none (including Apple) want to be.
  
  Verticality also extends in different directions (up and down). Apple does not go up beyond the CE market (at least on any big scale).
  
  Google, Microsoft and Amazon have specialised in industrial, enterprise verticality with all manner of solutions. Apple has nothing comparable to what is happening there. Likewise in the world of fintech. That said, those three plus Huawei, Samsung et al also dig down into the CE market.
  
  As for ecosystems, no one who isn't using an Apple product really sees a big difference. That is because Android, HarmonyOS etc are ecosystems in themselves (and both have fully base compatible open source variants which open market opportunities even more).
  
  Apple using Thread/Matter is an example of where going it alone and trying to baton a system down too much, wasn't working out. 

  
• Reply 16 of 23

  auxio Posts: 2,727member

  February 6, 2023 4:50PM

  gatorguy said:

  danox said:

  ihatescreennames said:

  What are the benefits to Google in using a non-WebKit based browser?

  The benefits for Google, the wet dream of Google is to have Apple reduced to HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Intel level, where by Apple, just makes/provides hardware and Google gets to design and run the Internet on all popular computer hardware, with Apple being relegated to a bit player OEM hardware maker sitting on the sidelines providing generic hardware, and nothing else. Courtesy of the EU and the American government picking winners and losers.

  
  

  Apple being vertical is just too successful (it’s not the computing world they imagined 25 years ago), the other one percenters want to re-shuffle the deck, because they can’t compete with Apple straight up.

  The same rules that might require Apple to allow non-webkit browsers on iOS will be the same that allows non-Google default browsers on Android

  Which isn't really a big problem for Google since developers still need to use their APIs to create those browsers on Android. Though I suppose in the same way Google could still harvest data at the OS level, Apple could detect and potentially prevent data harvesting at the OS level too.
• Reply 17 of 23

  danox Posts: 2,849member

  February 6, 2023 6:39PM

  auxio said:

  gatorguy said:

  danox said:

  ihatescreennames said:

  What are the benefits to Google in using a non-WebKit based browser?

  The benefits for Google, the wet dream of Google is to have Apple reduced to HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Intel level, where by Apple, just makes/provides hardware and Google gets to design and run the Internet on all popular computer hardware, with Apple being relegated to a bit player OEM hardware maker sitting on the sidelines providing generic hardware, and nothing else. Courtesy of the EU and the American government picking winners and losers.

  
  

  Apple being vertical is just too successful (it’s not the computing world they imagined 25 years ago), the other one percenters want to re-shuffle the deck, because they can’t compete with Apple straight up.

  The same rules that might require Apple to allow non-webkit browsers on iOS will be the same that allows non-Google default browsers on Android

  Which isn't really a big problem for Google since developers still need to use their APIs to create those browsers on Android. Though I suppose in the same way Google could still harvest data at the OS level, Apple could detect and potentially prevent data harvesting at the OS level too.

   For how long do you think Apple can do that before the other one percenters cry foul? In the end, what the EU wants and the United States government wants is for Apple to build the infrastructure and just turn it over to the government, and then stand back and just be HP or Dell at the low margins of profitability.
• Reply 18 of 23

  danox Posts: 2,849member

  February 6, 2023 6:44PM

  auxio said:

  gatorguy said:

  danox said:

  ihatescreennames said:

  What are the benefits to Google in using a non-WebKit based browser?

  The benefits for Google, the wet dream of Google is to have Apple reduced to HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Intel level, where by Apple, just makes/provides hardware and Google gets to design and run the Internet on all popular computer hardware, with Apple being relegated to a bit player OEM hardware maker sitting on the sidelines providing generic hardware, and nothing else. Courtesy of the EU and the American government picking winners and losers.

  
  

  Apple being vertical is just too successful (it’s not the computing world they imagined 25 years ago), the other one percenters want to re-shuffle the deck, because they can’t compete with Apple straight up.

  The same rules that might require Apple to allow non-webkit browsers on iOS will be the same that allows non-Google default browsers on Android

  Which isn't really a big problem for Google since developers still need to use their APIs to create those browsers on Android. Though I suppose in the same way Google could still harvest data at the OS level, Apple could detect and potentially prevent data harvesting at the OS level too.

   Google is just a parasitic software ad company. Yes, they put out me too Hardware from time to time, but it never last, so they have no problems living off of Apple or Microsoft, as a parasitic company and there are many others. Spotify and Netflix who also won’t mind a reshuffle.
• Reply 19 of 23

  danox Posts: 2,849member

  February 6, 2023 6:55PM

  designr said:

  danox said:

  ihatescreennames said:

  What are the benefits to Google in using a non-WebKit based browser?

  The benefits for Google, the wet dream of Google is to have Apple reduced to HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Intel level, where by Apple, just makes/provides hardware and Google gets to design and run the Internet on all popular computer hardware, with Apple being relegated to a bit player OEM hardware maker sitting on the sidelines providing generic hardware, and nothing else.
  

  This is a tiny little itty bitty (AKA massive) exaggeration. We're talking about a f%^&-ing web browser for goodness sake.
  
  

  If it was no big deal?, then Apple would not have developed Safari, which, if they had not they would be have been relegated to the back end of the computing age, the same thing applies to the Apple retail store, Apple Maps, iMessage, Apple Pay and the Apple Watch. It also extends to the M series SOC/CPU they designed, when you’re not a monopoly in any market and you’re a vertical computer company, you can’t sit back and allow other companies to determine your future or or wait for them to support you.
  
  Notice that when each one of those Apple products became successful, the crying ensued. It’s not fair it’s not fair, but at the time of their introduction, the financial analyst’s and the tech analyst’s made fun of it, but they’re not laughing anymore. The tech one percent, want a deck reshuffle.
• Reply 20 of 23

  danox Posts: 2,849member

  February 6, 2023 7:01PM

  michelb76 said:

  Hope this gets some competition going and further improves Safari.

  Apple does have competition that competition begins when you buy the hardware you want to use. Apple is a vertical computer company.