Apple has to tear down the high wall, iOS is finally open?

As early as the beginning of 2022, when the European Union was still planning to introduce the Digital Markets Act (DMA), it clearly required the "gatekeeper" Apple to open application sideloading on the iOS system, that is, to allow iOS users Download apps from third-party app stores other than the App Store.

The controversy is understandably huge. Even today, supporters and opponents of "iOS sideloading" are still arguing with each other.

But no matter how supportive or opposed, the boots have already fallen. On January 25th, local time in the United States, Apple updated a blog on its official website, finally announcing a series of new policies for the EU market, including iOS’s open application sideloading. In addition to iOS, it will also make changes to Safari and the App Store.

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As per the announcement, these changes have been passed on iOS 17.4 Beta is open to developers and will officially go into effect in March this year for all users in the 27 EU countries.

Frankly speaking, although there is still a lot of controversy among iOS users, and Apple’s complaints about the EU’s Digital Market Act “between the lines” are also obvious, but after reading Apple’s introduction From a personal perspective, Xiao Lei is actually quite happy to see the implementation of the new policy. The most important point is:

Good! Finally, we can no longer use the WebKit browser engine!

Just because of this change, Xiao Lei wants to be a digital European, but the actual changes in iOS go beyond that.

Breaking the iOS "Garden" Ecosystem

As we all know, iOS has been a relatively closed ecosystem since its birth. Compared with Android, and even more so than Apple's own macOS:

From a hardware perspective, iOS is "locked" on Apple's own devices; From a software perspective, Apple strictly controls third-party applications and only allows distribution on the App Store.

The most important change in Apple’s latest policy is that it allows developers to develop third-party app stores and also allows developers to list apps in third-party app stores. .

Let’s use a domestic example as an analogy. Even if many digital enthusiasts have never used it, they should have at least heard of "Kuan" (originally called Kuan Market). However, unlike the Android version where you can download and install applications, the iOS version does not have "applications" at all. There may be more similar ones. The popular Tencent App.

In particular, Tencent App Store relies heavily on the strong channel capabilities of QQ and WeChat in the domestic Android ecosystem, becoming the largest app store outside of various mobile phone manufacturers. third-party app stores. Theoretically, if iOS also relaxes the restrictions on third-party app stores in China, Tencent will also have the opportunity to rely on QQ, WeChat and other channels to establish another "App Store" for domestic iOS users.

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Of course, these policies currently only apply to There are 27 EU countries, and things are not that simple. While Apple has relaxed restrictions on third-party app stores, it has also made many supporting "measures" on iOS, such as:

- Third-party app stores The app will be automatically scanned for known viruses and basic manual review by a notarization system launched by Apple (similar to macOS). The notary system does not enforce Apple's content standards.

- Developers who want to create a third-party app store must provide Apple with a €1 million letter of credit from an A-rated financial institution.

- Some iOS features, such as Screen Time, Parental Controls, and Family Sharing, will not be compatible with apps distributed through third-party app stores.

If the above "measures" are more about setting up thresholds to protect the privacy and security of EU iOS users, then there are some "measures" that directly indicate Got Apple’s thoughts.

Due to changes in the App Store, Apple has also adjusted its charging model for application developers:

Developers who continue to choose to distribute apps through the App Store can enjoy a commission discount, which is reduced from the original 30% to 17%, while small developer commissions and subscription commissions are reduced from 15% to 10%.

The second is to charge Core Technology Fee instead. Regardless of whether it is distributed in the App Store or a third-party app store, after the first installation exceeds 1 million times, Apple will charge a core technology fee of 0.5 euros per time. In addition, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and educational institutions are exempt from this fee.

Based on the "core technology fee" charging model, developers can use third-party payment systems or Apple's payment system, but at this time additional fees are required. Pay a 3% commission.

Considering this series of changes, for most developers, it is obviously more in their interest to continue to choose to list apps on the App Store. This is exactly the result that Apple wants - although it is forced to let go of third-party app stores restrictions, but it still allows almost all developers to continue to stay in the App Store through various means.

But there are exceptions.

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Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney on ) expressed support for the notarization system, but also publicly criticized Apple's "cunning" - forcing developers to choose the App Store through an unfair charging model, which is also full of download garbage fees (referring to core technology fees) and new Apple tax (meaning you have to pay commission even if you don’t go through the Apple payment system), etc.

At the same time, Tim Sweeney said that he will insist on launching a third-party app store on iOS and strive to become the largest app store covering multiple platforms.

But in fact, Xiaolei is not interested at all in the iOS third-party app store and app sideloading. What he cares about most is the browser.

In addition to changes around the App Store, Apple also announced that it will open the use of the iPhone's NFC system for third-party wallet/financial/payment apps, and users can customize the detection of card readers. The app that is woken up by default is not the "wallet" app that comes with iOS.

In addition, third-party browsers on iOS (including in-app browsers) can also use browser engines other than Webkit. In other words, Chrome and more browsers can use the Chromium engine on the iOS version, and Mozilla's firefox can also use its own Gecko engine on the iOS version.

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Experience is not an excuse for closure

It’s not that Apple’s WebKit is rubbish. The WebKit engine may have certain advantages in terms of smoothness and battery life on iOS and macOS, but Apple's problem is that it forces all browsers to use the WebKit engine, causing other browsers to abandon their accustomed browser engines on iOS.

At the same time, WebKit is far inferior to Chromium in many aspects, such as extension ecology, platform coverage, migration cost, etc., which also directly leads to the decline of iOS versions of Chrome, Firefox and other browsers. Functionality is severely lacking.

#In the final analysis, experience should not be an excuse for Apple to "close" the ecosystem. It must be admitted that Apple's vertical ecological integration - strict control from hardware, operating system to application distribution platform, has indeed brought a more unified and stable experience over a long period of time, but it does not directly equal a better experience itself. WebKit is one example.

#At the same time, Apple also announced that it will support developers to submit "cloud gaming platform" apps. Prior to this, apps such as Microsoft's xCloud were banned from Apple's shelves.

As for iOS, how big of a storm will it create if it relaxes restrictions on third-party app stores and allows users to sideload apps? We may have to keep the bullets flying for a while longer.

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