How is it not monopolistic when only one party holds the keys? Surely that’s the definition of a monopoly?
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According to US anti-trust law, It is pretty clear that at the time of purchasing an iPhone, you can only get the Software from App Store. This is one of the reasons why Epic lost against Apple unlike on Android where the expectation is that you can buy software from multiple vendors.
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No, I wouldn’t like that, but they do provide an option to only allow apps from the App Store if you want that level of security.
And there’s the problem, there’s no option for iPhones or iPads. Yet.
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Sure, I understand from using a Mac that there are benefits to being able to download software from places other than Apple’s App Store. But like everything in life there are tradeoffs, for the vast majority of non-tech power users the extra safety of app review is far more important than being able to download software from any developer outside the app store.
I think they should make it an opt-in choice on iOS and iPadOS, but there would definitely be a security risk introduced by that choice. Is that risk worth taking on the scale of the iPhone market? I’m really not sure. The number of PC bot armies is large, imagine if the same thing happened on the scale of the iPhone?
The inadequacies of current US antitrust laws and Apple’s openness about its intentions don’t change the fact that it’s monopolistic behavior that harms users and developers.
There is a difference between what is the law and what it should be.
The vast majority of users and nearly all non-techie users would almost certainly continue to use the App Store exclusively, just as Android users do now, and probably even more so. To enable alternative app stores or sideloading, they’d have to bypass the same kind of scary warnings that they do now on Android.
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That’s my point. Current antitrust laws should be fully enforced, including against big tech firms like Apple and Google, and if they’re inadequate at preventing monopolistic behavior they should be strengthened.
Oh c’mon!!! Caramel Macchiato? That was a GREAT pull…. 
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I don’t know about you but my most important data isn’t on my iPhone. And I’m confident Gatekeeper would have been able to keep our iPhones and iPads safe.
Apple could have given us the option of installing apps from the App Store only, or the App Store and identified developers. But they chose not to, probably because they wanted their 30%. Now it looks like the EU, and possibly the US, will be making some of the decisions about the App Store.
I think you will find that a Windows PC is probably as secure as a Mac today. About 25% of my users were on Windows and I had a dozen Windows servers. But I hadn’t had an infected computer in something like ten years when I left in 2018. Today the biggest threat is phishing.
And the Mac and the iPhone, with their wealthy users, are the devices with the big red bullseye on their back.
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Allegedly. Be careful, Masimo have put a lot more of their case in public than Apple has.
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True, for those whose devices can be updated to more recent Android versions (and, I guess, for those who Android versions aren’t “customised” by the hardware manufacturer.
To be clear, I’m not denying that Android security has improved and will probably continue to do so. But so much of the Android market worldwide is built on the basis of lowest cost that there’s a big chunk out there that doesn’t benefit.
Software that would not exist without the hardware that Apple makes. Software which can only run on hardware that Apple makes. Software written by developers whose livelihoods would not exist without the hardware that Apple makes.
No, but I would have a decision to make: whether to continue to buy and use Apple Mac computers. I have choices as to where I spend my money. Don’t you?
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I only use three (non-Apple) programs from the App Store, 1Password for Safari, Amphetamine and Drafts. And none are essential. I would have to stop using a Mac.
Of all the things in the world today that I worry about happening – this is NOT one of them. 
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I’m not worried. I prefer a Mac but as long as I’m healthy and BestBuy is open I could switch back to Windows in a couple of hours.
Sure, but it’s in the public interest to ensure that Apple can’t monopolize app distribution on a dominant platform like iOS. That way we’ll all have more choices about where to spend our money.
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