Apple rumored to pick and choose which markets will get sideloading in iOS 17
A new report from a reliable leaker thinks that sideloading may not even be mentioned at WWDC, and the company is rumored to limit the feature to regions that have laws requiring it.
App Store
The company is working on such features, allowing users to install apps outside Apple's App Store in iOS 17. However, Apple is doing it solely to comply with European regulations and may not introduce sideloading in other markets.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman sat down with MacRumors to discuss features in the next generations of Apple operating systems. Along with changes to the Wallet and Find My apps, they discussed the topic of sideloading.
"I think it will be a Europe-only feature," Gurman said. "I think that they're not going to shoot themselves in the foot and expand this globally if they don't have to."
"They're not gonna do anything extraneous that would further hurt their grip on the App Store," he continued. "They're really going to stick to the letter of the law here."
Gurman believes that Apple may charge developers to be part of the sideloading program, using a process based on configuration profiles. The company may also have a review process for these apps, even though they would be installed outside of the App Store.
The Act aims to force businesses like Apple to provide substitutes to permit third-party app stores on their platforms and alternate payment mechanisms.
"We expect the consequences to be significant," said Gerard de Graaf, an EU official who helped pass the DMA. "If you have an iPhone, you should be able to download apps not just from the App Store but from other app stores or from the internet."
The EU determines which businesses are significant and well-known enough to be categorized as "gatekeepers." De Graaf said he expects approximately a dozen companies to be affected, including Apple.
According to the European Parliament, a gatekeeper must offer browsers, messaging services, or social media and have at least 45 million monthly end users in the EU. Additionally, they must have a market cap of at least 75 billion euros ($82 billion), 10,000 annual business users, or a yearly revenue of 7.5 billion euros ($8.2 billion).
Since the EU created and passed the law, that's where Apple might contain sideloading and not bring it to US customers or elsewhere. Gurman also expects Apple to downplay sideloading and not mention it as a feature at WWDC.
Apple will announce the next versions of iOS and macOS in June. Rumors include a journaling app, a redesigned Control Center, and many more possible features.
Read on AppleInsider
App Store
The company is working on such features, allowing users to install apps outside Apple's App Store in iOS 17. However, Apple is doing it solely to comply with European regulations and may not introduce sideloading in other markets.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman sat down with MacRumors to discuss features in the next generations of Apple operating systems. Along with changes to the Wallet and Find My apps, they discussed the topic of sideloading.
"I think it will be a Europe-only feature," Gurman said. "I think that they're not going to shoot themselves in the foot and expand this globally if they don't have to."
"They're not gonna do anything extraneous that would further hurt their grip on the App Store," he continued. "They're really going to stick to the letter of the law here."
Gurman believes that Apple may charge developers to be part of the sideloading program, using a process based on configuration profiles. The company may also have a review process for these apps, even though they would be installed outside of the App Store.
The Digital Markets Act
Europe approved the Digital Markets Act rules in July 2022, and they entered into force in November. The rules will be applicable starting on May 2, 2023.The Act aims to force businesses like Apple to provide substitutes to permit third-party app stores on their platforms and alternate payment mechanisms.
"We expect the consequences to be significant," said Gerard de Graaf, an EU official who helped pass the DMA. "If you have an iPhone, you should be able to download apps not just from the App Store but from other app stores or from the internet."
The EU determines which businesses are significant and well-known enough to be categorized as "gatekeepers." De Graaf said he expects approximately a dozen companies to be affected, including Apple.
According to the European Parliament, a gatekeeper must offer browsers, messaging services, or social media and have at least 45 million monthly end users in the EU. Additionally, they must have a market cap of at least 75 billion euros ($82 billion), 10,000 annual business users, or a yearly revenue of 7.5 billion euros ($8.2 billion).
Since the EU created and passed the law, that's where Apple might contain sideloading and not bring it to US customers or elsewhere. Gurman also expects Apple to downplay sideloading and not mention it as a feature at WWDC.
Apple will announce the next versions of iOS and macOS in June. Rumors include a journaling app, a redesigned Control Center, and many more possible features.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
gizmodo.com/apple-iphone-ipad-privacy-problems-data-gathering-1849855092/slides/9#replies
gizmodo.com/apple-iphone-analytics-tracking-even-when-off-app-store-1849757558
Ultimately mobile and desktop are NOT the same and should not be treated as such.
I appreciate Apple’s “walled garden” and use it for that reason. If I wanted my device to be riddled with crapware and full of additional attack vectors for malicious actors I would have chosen Android.
Desktop OS's are originally designed from the ground up to allow users to install software from many sources, despite any decrease in security. (Remember how computers were infected by viruses by using infected floppies?) Desktop computers were around before the internet. IOS was designed from the ground up with security in mind and only allowed software to be installed from just one secure source, for the sake of a more secure ecosystem. It's not perfect but way more secure that allowing side loading.
Why don't you compare iOS (which don't allow side loading) to Android (which do allow side loading) and claim that side loading works great on Android devices? Both are designed for today's more modern mobile devices. And today's modern mobile devices needs to be more secure than even today's desktop, not just as secure.
One reason would be to be free from the everyday running costs of bandwidth, payment processing etc. In that case, why not simply provide a link to the app in the store of your choice? Your binary, hashed and certified in the store you want to use.
Users would get the app, unmodified exactly as you provided it.
That’s choice. If Apple were to lose out, it would be for a reason. They would then have to consider adapting their ways. Competing.
At a minimum I expect Apple to still always review apps before providing a signed/certified version to be available for distribution.
If people want Apple to be classified as a Gatekeeper then they have to accept Apple acting as a Gatekeeper = reviewing every app.
Your always distorted view of "competing" and "choice" would force Walmart to allow Costco to sell their Kirkland brand products in Walmart stores. Or force Volkswagen to sell Lexus brand autos in their dealerships. And neither Walmart or Volkswagen would earn any "commission" for allowing Costco and Ford to use their property to make money. They just have to "compete".
Oh, I forgot, Walmart and Volkswagen aren't labeled some BS "gatekeeper". Being labeled a "gatekeeper" means that you are not allow to "compete" using your own IP and must allow others to use your IP for free, in order for them to compete with you. You saying that Apple competitors should be able to make money using Apple iOS, without paying Apple a "commission" is just socialism wanting all the benefits of capitalism, but not willing to pay the price.
Distorted, it is most certainly not.
Nor are Walmart or VW even remotely comparable to gatekeepers.
When was the last time you bought into a retail system and found yourself limited to just one store?
You do not pay to enter a Walmart or VW dealership for starters. You do pay to enter the Apple ecosystem. You may argue that the purchase price includes more than access to an online retail store but that is irrelevant.
The point is it cost money and the user is NEVER clearly made aware of the App Store limitations and restrictions of choice and competition at purchase time.
I'm sure that if the user were clearly made aware of those limitations and required to sign off on them, then most of Apple’s problems here would just vanish overnight.
Why not give that a go in the name of transparency? What’s there to lose? Most of the people defending Apple on this issue claim that users buy iPhones precisely to have those limitations in place.
Well, make it so! Tell the users and let's see how 'in' on the deal they really are.
No. Apple would never choose that option because it knows full well it has no ground to stand on. It has laughed all the way to the bank for over a decade until legislation and investigations caught up with it. It will fight and try to thwart efforts to have it open up and that is logical but do you really think everything will stop at the EU?
Was that you or ChatGTP?
Either way, it's odd how you seem to consider iPhone buyers specifically, and Apple consumers broadly, as unable to evaluate Apple's business model, after almost 50 years of operation. I'm just not seeing masses of iPhone owners with buyers remorse, but sure, you are free to link to that if it is actually happening.