Why are there apps on the iOS that I can’t delete even though I never use them? Why does Apple insist that I keep Tips and Stocks on my iPhone when I’d like nothing more than to delete them? For Cook the question seems a familiar one. “This is a more complex issue than it first appears,” he says. “There are some apps that are linked to something else on the iPhone. If they were to be removed they might cause issues elsewhere on the phone. There are other apps that aren’t like that. So over time, I think with the ones that aren’t like that, we’ll figure out a way [for you to remove them]. … It’s not that we want to suck up your real estate; we’re not motivated to do that. We want you to be happy. So I recognize that some people want to do this, and it’s something we’re looking at.”
Great news for iOS users – it seems like soon we’ll finally be able to remove all the crapware Apple’s been stuffing your iPhone with.
As for the other applications he’s referring to, such as mail, the browser, and so on – don’t expect any changes to how you cannot set your own browser or mail client as default. The reason is simple: there’s going to be a whole lot of Google iPhones out there the day Apple does allow you to change default applications. And we wouldn’t want consumers to use what they actually want to use, now would we?
Perish the thought.
Its really Sad that MS and google has app’s in their OS’s and they get a anti-trust investigation even if you can change to another as default. Yet Apple can force you to use theirs by not allowing changing of default for so long yet Nothing.
It’s only an anti-trust issue if a company abuses their market dominance to advance their products.
Apple does not have market dominance in any market so they can do whatever they want.
The customer, in turn, can simply choose not to buy their products.
Apple dominates, style, class and quality.
What google app would replace an Apple one ?
Edited 2015-09-16 11:09 UTC
Maps? Apple maps isn’t all that hot, especially outside the US.
I like the gmail client as well, but I’d have to spend more time with Apple’s to compare them.
Easy: Mail, Calendar, Maps.
The google versions are stellar, and the Apple versions are terrible.
If that many iPhone users wanted to run Google software, why wouldn’t they just buy a (less expensive) Nexus phone? It isn’t like the Chinese hardware Apple is selling is any better than anything else out there. I’ve always assumed that Apple users valued their software more.
There is also a high probability that iOS users prefer some Apple software, but would choose third party software in some cases.
For example, Gmail users may prefer to use a Gmail app over Apple’s Mail. I’m not sure what the situation is for Mail on iOS, but I have had problems with using Mail for Gmail on OS X. For many users, Google Maps will provide better functionality. Transit route information and route planning is one such example for urban dwellers. On the other hand, those iOS users may prefer Apple’s apps, or third party iOS apps, overall.
Because Google’s iOS apps are better than their Android equivalents.
Not necessarily. Google Maps on Android kicks the crap out of their iOS version, especially the transit features.
Removing an app should not create issues. Removing an app does not mean removing libraries that are used by third party developers, and IPC should be standardized so that one app can be replaced by another. IPC should also be designed in such a way that removing an app causes graceful failure (e.g. apps can detect that a particular service does not exist, and does not offer the option to use that service if it does not exist)
But we’re talking about removing, not replacing. So they’ll probably change the apps IPC handling into a dynamic library, and let you remove the app portion, not saving much.
Ofcourse, the proper way would be to disable the functionality (i.e. stock tickers on the ‘today’ screen when the stock app is removed), but I highly doubt they’ll do that much work. Too much effort….
This is coming from the company that only very recently put the Watch app on a few hundred million devices for something that only a few million users could have a use for.
Cooks words sound nice, but actions speak louder than words
Edited 2015-09-17 19:46 UTC