With today’s announcement, Apple has reversed course and said that Home Screen web apps will continue to exist as they did pre-iOS 17.4 in the European Union. “This support means Home Screen web apps continue to be built directly on WebKit and its security architecture, and align with the security and privacy model for native apps on iOS,” Apple explains today.
A more likely explanation is that the DMA is complicated and Apple is still figuring out what changes it mandates in iOS. This is a big package of legislation that needs interpretation. Apple’s lawyers now seem to think PWAs can still be WebKit-only. Whether regulators will agree is something we will find out when iOS 17.4 is released and, at the same time, whether Apple was correct to blame the law.
Ahead of iOS 17.4 launching for the public with all the major updates in the EU, Apple has published a 60-page whitepaper covering everything that’s changing. It includes details on all the ways it’s working to ensure security and privacy.
"These agencies - especially those serving essential functions such as defense, banking, and emergency services - have reached out to us about these new changes," Apple said in a guidance paper.
It said the agencies wanted assurances that they would be able to prevent government employees from sideloading apps onto government-purchased iPhones and that several said they planned to block sideloading on every device they manage.
“Apple’s new terms do not allow for sideloading and make the installation and use of new app stores difficult, risky and financially unattractive for developers,” the letter states. “Rather than creating healthy competition and new choices, Apple’s new terms will erect new barriers and reinforce Apple’s stronghold over the iPhone ecosystem.” The companies urge the European Commission to take action against Apple “to guarantee the DMA remains both credible and delivers competitive digital markets.”
Apple's Beats brand has launched a significant new sale on several models of headphones and earphones, with the sale pricing available to both Apple and third-party retailers.
Balance is a meditation app that may look incredibly simple thanks to its super minimal design, but it's packed with loads of different guided meditations, long meditation plans, soundscapes and much more.
The monthly subscription costs $9.99 and includes 15 free listening hours of audiobooks, the same as the classic Premium plan. But $10.99 Premium subscribers get 15 hours of audiobooks, plus ad-free music and podcasts — whereas the audiobook plan still has ads for music and podcast services. Essentially, audiobook listeners are paying nearly the same amount while getting half the benefits.
Apple made a bet. Maybe the odds were bad. The bet was probably too large. And Apple threw some good money after bad in the hopes of chasing a jackpot. You win some, you lose some.
When it comes to planning the future, the only thing worse than making some bad bets is making no bets at all.
You know what all these remind me? The whole internet-explorer-is-part-of-Windows thing two decades ago. I still think Microsoft was right -- to an extend. But, on hindsight, what was missing was the differentiation between Internet Explorer the program, and Internet Explorer the HTML rendering engine.
Of course, the HTML rendering engine has to be part and parcel of the operating system; just like (almost) all operating systems render text and images and videos.
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Thanks for reading.