> Here is the thing, I don't feel like I am being restricted. I never said the words I like being restricted. Want to know who is? The developers... the people pushing for this.
You can spin it again and again, it won't change the facts: it's the user that are being restricted.
Sure it has the side effect of restricting the developers, because they can't reach the restricted user without Apple giving them access. But it's only a pretty recent side effect, when Apple decided to pivot their branding on “privacy”: before that Facebook and al. spent almost a decade harvesting user data for free on iPhone without any complaints from Apple.
Oh, and this is not just me making the argument: that's actually European Commission's argument too. And the fact is, EC won the case and Apple is caving.
And if you need some help grasping this fact, you can think about how the European regulation is not about freedom for European developers (targeting every user in the world) but about freedom for European users no matter where the developer comes from.
> Sure it has the side effect of restricting the developers, because they can't reach the restricted user without Apple giving them access. But it's only a pretty recent side effect, when Apple decided to pivot their branding on “privacy”: before that Facebook and al. spent almost a decade harvesting user data for free on iPhone without any complaints from Apple.
That is not a bad example. Should they have restricted it sooner? Yes. But that is an example of the restrictions being a positive for users.
> European regulation is not about freedom for European developers (targeting every user in the world) but about freedom for European users no matter where the developer comes from.
Honestly debatable, considering the biggest names in this are Spotify and Epic. Last I checked Spotify isn't a User. Most of the push for this seems to be pushed by developers who tried to spin this as "user choice" when its really "Developer choice".
> Honestly debatable, considering the biggest names in this are Spotify and Epic
Epic is an American company, which reinforce my point.
> Most of the push for this seems to be pushed by developers who tried to spin this as "user choice" when its really "Developer choice".
And no, it's not the medium-size business that are spinning things around, they have far less lobbying power than Apple and very very little leverage on the European Commission (compared to Apple that got away with a lightning cable exception on the Micro-USB mandate from the European commission a decade ago). Only this time Apple's lobbying wasn't enough, and European people will have access to pieces of software that Apple was forbidding for no good reason (web browsers for starter).
Back in 2014 or so when I was still a web developer, I can tell you that Safari stood literally zero chance against the competition, and that the very poor state of the iPhone's monopoly browser was actually harming customers.
At the end of the day, the developer will still have very little leverage on the user (they cannot realistically force the user to use a non-app store version of their app), and the user will be the only one making their choice to use apps that come from outside the Apple app store. It's only about user choice.
Repeating corporate lies many time doesn't make them true.
You can spin it again and again, it won't change the facts: it's the user that are being restricted.
Sure it has the side effect of restricting the developers, because they can't reach the restricted user without Apple giving them access. But it's only a pretty recent side effect, when Apple decided to pivot their branding on “privacy”: before that Facebook and al. spent almost a decade harvesting user data for free on iPhone without any complaints from Apple.
Oh, and this is not just me making the argument: that's actually European Commission's argument too. And the fact is, EC won the case and Apple is caving.
And if you need some help grasping this fact, you can think about how the European regulation is not about freedom for European developers (targeting every user in the world) but about freedom for European users no matter where the developer comes from.