Apple Further Explains iOS 17.4's New Default Browser Prompt in EU

[TheDailyApple]

This is so stupid. By this logic, the phone should force you to also select your preferred notes, calendar, calculator, music, ebooks, camera, weather, etc. apps during setup as well. Has everyone completely forgotten the point of default apps? If I want something other than the default, I can change it later.

By the same logic, does Microsoft have to ask which browser you’d like to use when setting up a PC? I’d assume so.

I don’t see how Apple makes any money off of people using Safari vs other browsers. The whole point, like the default weather, notes, and calendar apps, is to provide users with a good default experience.

 

[turbineseaplane]

This is so stupid. By this logic, the phone should force you to also select your preferred notes, calendar, calculator, music, ebooks, camera, weather, etc. apps during setup as well. Has everyone completely forgotten the point of default apps? If I want something other than the default, I can change it later.

They ask you one single time

You're overreacting

 

[I7guy]

I have no idea why normal people defend Apple

They are very rarely doing things that are in your interest

If Apple's interests and consumers interest align, it's mostly coincidental

You couldn’t be more wrong and there are examples to prove apple is not only out for themselves.

 

[chachawpi]

Maybe Ford should be forced to ask Car Buyers what tires they want; hey aftermarket are cheaper and some are better quality. Should we now force DeWalt to offer drill bits by Milwaukee?

This is a very strange analogy. When someone needs to replace their tires, they can go wherever they want to get tires. A better analogy would be that the current situation is like Ford requiring all owners to fill up their fuel tank at a Ford-branded station vs what the EU is implementing which is allowing owners to fill up their fuel tank wherever they want.

If you want to keep using Safari, keep using Safari.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I wonder if it'll actually be in a fair random order or if Apple will tip the scales to favor Safari still...

IE, it's "random" but Safari is 5x as likely to show up at the top of the list while "Chrome", "Internet Explorer", "Edge", "Duck Duck Go", and "Firefox" are all 5x as likely to show up at the bottom of the list.

An insufficiently careful test would show that other browsers could show up on top, and so Safari could sneakily continue to dominate on iOS.

They go with 12 to allow them to burry the real competitors - if everything else is nonsense they've never heard of, people are more likely to pick Safari. Plus the low effort nonsense is more likely to just use WebKit since it's such an easily used part of the iOS Dev Kit, vs pulling the Chromium or Gecko engine in would be harder.

There's also the issue that other browsers may be more specialized... IE, besides Safari and Firefox on my iPhone, I also have a low bandwidth browser that only loads html and css and ignores anything else on a page (no javascript or images or videos or anything). It sucks on most websites, but when you're on an abysmal connection, it's nice because it can at least load something while regular browsers are stuck downloading graphics that will just timeout the connection. So I'm glad it exists and I wouldn't be surprised if such a browser made it to the top 12, but nobody would want it as their default browser.

 

[Analog Kid]

how petty... they know safari would be further down than chrome if it was alphabetical so they make it random...

They could have kept it alphabetical and called it Apple Safari, but then they'd be behind the newly renamed Acme Firefox.

 

[chachawpi]

This is so stupid. By this logic, the phone should force you to also select your preferred notes, calendar, calculator, music, ebooks, camera, weather, etc. apps during setup as well. Has everyone completely forgotten the point of default apps? If I want something other than the default, I can change it later.

By the same logic, does Microsoft have to ask which browser you’d like to use when setting up a PC? I’d assume so.

I don’t see how Apple makes any money off of people using Safari vs other browsers. The whole point, like the default weather, notes, and calendar apps, is to provide users with a good default experience.

Yes. This was a pretty big deal in the 90s.

United States v. Microsoft Corp. - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

You couldn’t be more wrong and there are examples to prove apple is not only out for themselves.

What's the most recent one you can name?


You seem to be stuck in the era when Jobs ran the company. It's been a long time since Apple cared even remotely about their consumers (or their developers.)

 

[turbineseaplane]

Yes. This was a pretty big deal in the 90s.

United States v. Microsoft Corp. - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It's time for Apple to have their "Microsoft moment"

They've gotten too big and controlling and need to be reined in.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

They could have kept it alphabetical and called it Apple Safari, but then they'd be behind the newly renamed Acme Firefox.

That is literally why Apple's stock symbol is AAPL... they wanted it to show up near the top of alphabetically sorted stock symbol lists.

 

[I7guy]

What's the most recent one you can name?

Apple gave hundreds of millions of dollars during the pandemic for various causes. Apple hasn’t raised the prices of some of its phones and instead accepted lower margins.

You seem to be stuck in the era when Jobs ran the company. It's been a long time since Apple cared even remotely about their consumers.

Jobs cared as much for the customers (you’re holding it wrong) as Cook.

 

[PommeFruits]

The point is that choice in and of itself is not inherently better.

Good thing the choice between Safari or a non-WebKit browser is inherently better then.

 

[I7guy]

It's time for Apple to have their "Microsoft moment"

They've gotten too big and controlling and need to be reigned in.

Or not. Who knows?

 

[iOS Geek]

They could have kept it alphabetical and called it Apple Safari, but then they'd be behind the newly renamed Acme Firefox.

Funny thing is I was just downvoted for saying the EU would find something to complain about even if it was done alphabetically. I was joking by saying that. As it turns out, someone a page or two back mentioned that Microsoft tried doing it alphabetically...and the EU complained about it.

But yes, imagine if was done alphabetically. Every single company would try to make sure that "A_Browsername" is titled appropriately enough to be step above someone else's "A_Browsername" and when "A" doesn't work anymore...here comes "1"!

 

[CarAnalogy]

Good thing the choice between Safari or a non-WebKit browser is inherently better then.

Well, yes, in theory. The problem with all this is unintended consequences. I assume you're familiar with both sides of the argument. I genuinely don't know which one is better. I'm not sure many choices in software are "inherently" correct. I tend to lean towards the opinion that it is, but I'm not sure anyone really knows. We're gonna find out.

 

[AndiG]

This is funny, because all are in fact the same browser underneath, Safari ​

No, EU will also have different browser engines as well. What will you do, personally, if it turns out that another browser engine is twice as fast or needs only 50% battery? Would you switch?

Image created with ideogram.ai

 

[turbineseaplane]

EU will also have different browser engines as well.

Insanely jealous

A full and "real" Firefox with extensions on iOS would be marvelous

 

[chachawpi]

It's time for Apple to have their "Microsoft moment"

They've gotten too big and controlling and need to be reigned in.

This is exactly why I won't buy everything from a single company and get locked into an ecosystem as if that benefits anyone but Apple/Google/etc. I use Sonos speakers instead of HomePods, I use Spotify instead of Apple Music, and so on.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Apple gave hundreds of millions of dollars during the pandemic for various causes. Apple hasn’t raised the prices of some of its phones and instead accepted lower margins.

Jobs cared as much for the customers (you’re holding it wrong) as Cook.

1. Not bad. I thought you'd have to go back way further to think of something. Still, that was over 3 years ago, and unless I'm mistaken, isn't charity work like that directly tax deductible, so it's basically just PR/marketing that you're allowed to do at the government's expense?

2. Disagree. That was a crisis manufactured by Consumer Reports for clicks. Jobs was right to refute it.

 

[0339327]

Didn't Henry Ford say the same for car color(s)?

That would be more comparable to saying you want a particular make of hard drive or ram: not very easily doable.

My comparison of tire brand makes more sense.

Personally, I think both are nonsense.

 

[JosephAW]

This is funny, because all are in fact the same browser underneath, Safari

Exactly. Waiting to download a browser that doesn't use web kit that way older iOS browser versions can stay up to date.

 

[SmugMaverick]

I have no idea why normal people defend Apple

They are very rarely doing things that are in your interest

If Apple's interests and consumers interest align, it's mostly coincidental

Exactly

Beeper just let the cat out the bag as well

https://twitter.com/x/status/1750932040130961465

If true, disgusting behaviour.

 

[I7guy]

1. Not bad. I thought you'd have to go back way further to think of something. Still, that was over 3 years ago, and unless I'm mistaken, isn't charity work like that directly tax deductible, so it's basically just PR/marketing that you're allowed to do at the government's expense?

2. Disagree. That was a crisis manufactured by Consumer Reports for clicks. Jobs was right to refute it.

The point being apple is a for profit company and unless they running afoul of the law, for the most part, their business model has stood the test of court challenges in the US. The EU DMA was just entrapment and control.

While there are clearly anti-big tech opinions, most “normal people” don’t go out of their way to criticize apple and say they have to be reigned in.

 

[JosephAW]

Can't wait to see what iOS looks like in ten years. Will have so much complying options it'll look like msdos and autoexec.bat and config.sys hot mess files.

 

[PommeFruits]

The problem with all this is unintended consequences.

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