Apple CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday warned that proposed antitrust legislation in the U.S. and the E.U. would have the unintended consequence of making iPhones less safe, putting users at risk.
Tim Higgins for The Wall Street Journal:
Legislation in both jurisdictions would force Apple to allow third-party programs to be downloaded onto the iPhone outside of the company’s App Store, where it currently regulates the offerings and charges a commission as much as 30% from in-app purchases. Apple has said this change would hurt user security and privacy.
“Taking away a more secure option will leave users with less choice — not more,” Mr. Cook said Tuesday during a speech at the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ summit in Washington, D.C. “And when companies decide to leave the App Store because they want to exploit user data, it could put significant pressure on people to engage with alternate app stores — app stores where their privacy and security may not be protected.”
In Europe, the Digital Markets Act is moving toward final approval, while pieces of legislation in Congress are being considered and are far from becoming law.
“Apple believes in competition,” Mr. Cook said. “But if we are forced to let unvetted apps on to iPhone, the unintended consequences will be profound and when we see that we feel an obligation to speak up and ask policy makers to work with us to advance goals that I truly believe we share without undermining privacy in the process.”
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote last month:
If developers to use the App Store without using Apple’s payment systems, then they should be charged to use Apple’s App Store when conducting in-app commerce. Period.
Removing the requirement to use Apple’s payment system in apps removes much of the incentive for Apple to operate and maintain such an expensive operation as the App Store, which supports 1+ billion users. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Are, for example, Best Buy and Target forced by law to place signs next to each product that advertise lower prices for the same items at Walmart? No, because that would be ludicrous.
If Apple is forced by the DMA or any other legislation to allow developers to advertise lower prices in their apps which are distributed via Apple’s App Store, Apple should release the “In-App Advertising” API to track and charge an in-store advertising fee on any app that nets a sale or subscription via the advertisement of lower prices outside the App Store. We suggest Apple’s rate be 15% for developers making under $1 million per year and 30% for those making $1 million or more annually (exactly what they are now).
Regarding sideloading, as we wrote back in November 2021:
Apple allows sideloading apps on the Mac, yet the company routinely touts how much more secure the Mac is versus Windows PCs, so, logically, it follows that if the Digital Markets Act were enacted, Apple could apply the same third-party app certification to iOS and iPadOS as they do for macOS and still offer a markedly safer experience than the toxic hellstew provided by Android phones and tablets.
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