Apple is considering allowing users to use third-party web browsers and email applications as the default app options on iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch devices.
That could mean your iPhone could open Google Chrome any time you click a link instead of forcing you to open Safari, or Spotify could work more seamlessly with Siri and other iPhone features.
This really matters to some people. One person tweeted, “sometimes i feel my entire passion for antitrust is around just wanting spotify as my siri default.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, who doesn’t want to pay the same or more for 10 million fewer songs? Give these people the ability to degrade their experience, Apple! Since they can’t even do basic math, much less understand antitrust law, they won’t even comprehend that what they’re doing anyway.
Apple is currently under pressure from the Justice Department, but it hasn’t been the focus of the current surge in antitrust activity in the way Facebook and Google have been. It’s a savvy move to react to the shifting landscape before things change. Apple could end up looking like the good guy. And that’s good marketing.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote yesterday, “We’d endorse creating the ability to replace default apps on iPhone and iPad with one big caveat: Security and privacy must not be compromised. The vast majority of users would still use Apple’s apps, but the ability to choose to make third-party apps as defaults would not only give users more power, it would alleviate many antitrust issues for Apple.”