Apple has been under pressure in the European Union as the Digital Markets Act antitrust legislation requires the company to allow users to sideload apps outside the App Store to increase competition. 9to5Mac has now found evidence in the iOS 17.2 beta code that the company is indeed moving towards enabling sideloading on iOS devices.
The meat of the story here is not that Apple is going to allow sideloading – they were always going to if they want to keep operating in the EU/EEA – but that apparently, they intend to region-lock it to countries in the European Union and European Economic Area. This would mean that consumers in the US would, once again, not be able to benefit from consumer protection laws enacted in the EU.
Your best bet is that some state like California copies the EU legislation. Of course, this assumes they care about the little guy and aren’t using it as a pretext to run budget deficits.
Naturally this will make less restricted EU apple phones more valuable than US apple phones with more restrictions. It will encourage some US buyers to seek european sellers. There could even be a gray market for unrestricted iphones. I suspect apple will attempt to lock down supply channels. This actually mirrors the way apple has sought to restrict repair parts, going so far as to call on government agencies to interdict packages before they reach US shops.
Because it’s not going to lock after you spend an ammount of time outside whatever zone?
Would not know apple ios failed on release one by not having 3g so it became an idiot and american thing.
I do miss the good laptops though. That being start of intel to 10.6, after which ick. (you can have to 10.8 if you were die hard but after that just insanity).
Carrot007,
It remains to be seen, but I don’t think that’s the way it’s going to work. When it comes to other EU laws like the GDPR, they explicitly cover such “loopholes” even when europeans travel overseas. They can and probably would penalize apple for violating their laws by relocking phones, but we’ll have to see how things pan out. I know if I were in the market for an apple phone, I would only want an unlocked one so I could run fdroid plus my own software on it.
Since Android phone allowed this for years, why the “benefit” of using Apple products but be forced into their expensive ecosystem ?
Allowing existing users to finally have a choice?
I want a Ford, but with a Ferrari engine. Is it a choice that’ll me made possible to the existing users?
There appears to be a downside to your argument (though depending on the relative models it could well be fine).
But giving an existing user that would bother to do this this choice really does not.
In the US, iMessage has evolved into a way to weed out the plebs who don’t own an iPhone (green bubbles -> poor person, don’t socialize with). It doesn’t matter that Android has lots of high-end phones and Apple-refurbished low-end iPhones are relatively affordable, that’s what the perception is.
For the rest of the world, people who have gotten used to iOS, or have their app purchases on iOS, or like iPhone’s camera processing better than Samsung Galaxy’s or Google Pixel’s, will buy an iPhone.
Its probably going to mean a resurgence of jail breaking again. I wouldn’t expect anything special for the US, they still have tight control trough their MDM software. Thats why corporations are able to deploy ipads for POS.
I am new here, so bear with me, people.
I disagree that sideloading is a good thing. In fact, it has everything to be a very bad decision.
I’m not saying that Apple is perfect. I’m not even implying I believe in Apple’s “good intentions.” Apple is a company that aims to profit, like almost every other company in the world. I’m just defending that the main attractions of iPhones are security, consistency, and stability, and they go away by allowing sideloading. If you tell me “Then don’t sideload apps,” I’ll readily reply: I’m not talking about me. I’m talking about that old grandparent who uses the phone to get in touch with the grandsons. At most, check their bank accounts. I’m talking about non-tech people. If even tech people can get scammed, what about them?
bgarber,
It’s good to see new folks!
You don’t have to sideload, but having the option to is so important for competition and owner rights. Nobody should have to stand for restrictions put in place by corporations dead set on monopolizing the app market.
Not for nothing but we aren’t even talking about root, only sideloading apps, which will run in the same sandbox use the same permission model as used by every other IOS app. Even on android many users simply stick to google’s app store, but the option is there for those who want more. I respect your right to make your own decisions, but ultimate I would hope that you also respect that other owners will want to make their own decision. Morally speaking, when it comes to their hardware, it should be their choice and theirs alone.
Hi! Thank you for the welcome! 🙂
I respect the right everyone has to make their own decisions. Don’t get me wrong. I understand that locking everyone may not exactly sound fair. It isn’t.
My claim here is that when you buy an iPhone, you make an exchange. An exchange that seemed reasonable to me. It is about the expectations you build when you purchase something. When I bought my iPhone, it wasn’t only because it had some of the highest tech available. More than that, it was because of its healthy ecosystem. And, in my opinion, allowing sideloading weakens that characteristic, even if I do not sideload myself. We won’t have a simple, unique, and safe place to get apps. I’m not saying Apple is perfect in supervising the App Store, but it is effective. I can easily see a scenario where someone clicks an ad on Facebook (or anywhere) and ends up installing malicious software on their devices. I may be prepared for that, but some non-tech people may not. I hope that’s OK here, let me paste a link to a great article from last year in Apple Insider which discusses exactly my point: appleinsider.com/articles/22/12/13/you-might-be-ready-for-side-loading-on-iphone-but-your-parents-arent. I’m worried about the abuse.
I feel there are more interests behind this. All of this seems only to satisfy companies like Epic Games, Meta, and others, who already had problems with how Apple manages its App Store.
bgarber,
We might have to disagree, but I feel quite strongly that owners should at least allowed to get the keys to their own property. In a fair world, this is the reasonable expectation. Conversely not getting their own keys is unreasonable.
Well, apple will still have a “healthy ecosystem” even with sideloading. I’d be more responsive to your point if the market were extremely fragmented, but as it stands it’s a literal duopoly and both users and developers are suffering from a lack of healthy app store competition. Companies need to be competing on merit, they should not be allowed to block competition the way apple does.
Sideloading just needs to be possible for those who are looking for it, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be enabled by default. On android for instance it requires very deliberate action. Also sideloading is very different than root access; apps are just running in their sandbox and still need to ask permission to do things just as they would when installed through apple. So in all honestly if you don’t enable sideloading, nothing changes for you or your parents. It’s just an option for those who want it.
I don’t know if you are a capitalist or not, but for capitalism to work market barriers need to be broken so that others be allowed to compete.
Well, we still don’t know how Apple plans to implement this. The details are missing. Yet, I’m not entirely convinced this is a good idea. Maybe there would be a better way to address the issue. Maybe there is a middle ground. The way things are now, I fear most people may be forced to allow sideloading only to be able to use WhatsApp (at this moment, the most used messenger in the world, owned by Meta). I think the biggest problem most developers and companies face with Apple does not relate to sideloading or parallel app marketplaces but how Apple dictates what goes into their App Store and how Apple takes advantage of that to profit. And I agree, that’s not fair. Perhaps we should think about how to solve that rather than supporting something that potentially may fracture the market. I would not say I’m a capitalist, but I generally agree that healthy competition is good for the market and users.
bgarber,
Your use of “forced” is a bit one sided here though. IPhone users are literally forced to use a single mandatory app store. While WhatsApp could decide to withdraw from apple’s store if their terms are bad, I would note that WhatsApp is in google’s app store despite android sideloading.
Given apple’s dominance here, it’s become an antitrust issue…would you prefer for apple to get broken up? I kind of doubt that.
Regarding fragmentation, regardless of whatever hypothetical concerns there may be for that down the line, we’re so far from that point that it doesn’t make much sense to focus on it as a reason to block competition. In other words today’s mobile consumers are facing the exact opposite extreme. Criticizing app store alternatives right now would be like criticizing new OS platforms in the 1990s even as the market is actively being oppressed by microsoft. It’s the wrong time for such an argument. Fragmentation is not an adequate justification for having controlled markets over free markets.
Besides, just because a market is free, that doesn’t mean apple’s store cannot be competitive. Those who genuinely fear developers will leave apple’s store must not have much confidence in apple’s ability to draw them in via merit. Even if they had to compete, Apple would still have huge first mover advantages.