#AAPL's recent changes to #PWA (#ProgressiveWebApp) functionality in #iOS, specifically in the #EU, has sparked outrage among #webdev. The company's late acknowledgment of intentionally limiting PWA capabilities, presented as compliance with the EU's #DigitalMarketsAct, has been criticized as deceitful. This move, seen as an attempt to protect its #appStore#monopoly, undermines open #webStandards and harms #developers and users.
With X/Twitter, Elon Musk seems to be singlehandedly illustrating the exciting antitrust concept of Significant Non-transitory Decreases in Quality while having limited impact on X usage (thanks to network effects). Maybe even enough to overcome the European Commission’s concerns of practicality 🤔
Mastodon still seems to be struggling to achieve liftoff, despite significant migration of specific communities (especially academics). While they interact with each other this hasn’t generated large enough cross-network effects for wider growth.
Bluesky with its various recommendation feeds seems to be making individual posts go a lot more viral (judging on the like/repost stats) but I don’t know if that will ultimately prove more important to achieving critical mass.
I’m looking forward to some very large measurement studies which tease out the dynamics and drivers in usage of these types of social networking service 🤓 (let me know if I missed any!). You could even compare individual users across services where they give usernames.
I’m frustrated but not entirely surprised it has proven just too difficult to synchronise the large-scale exit from X apparently necessary to reboot a sufficient competitor. Hence my continued focus on interoperability requirements for gatekeeper platforms like X, FB & LinkedIn. (The latter two already designated under the #DigitalMarketsAct; the former could be, I think, under the qualitative designation process. X certainly isn’t worth €75bn these days 🤭)
I’m not the only frustrated X user:
Why am I back on here? Simple. The alternatives have failed. I was badly informed. And just reading passively felt wrong.
Nor LinkedIn! (I killed my FB account many years ago in disgust at its privacy policies.)
A friend suggests a user survey to illustrate the ongoing drop in quality (not Small, which usually is attached to the concept of SSNIPs and SSNDQs). And indeed advertisers (and the ever-increasing groups of ex-advertisers)! Musk is f*cking BOTH sides of his 2-sided market! 🤬
I've read that #WhatsApp wants to interoperate with other #messenger applications, to align with #DigitalMarketsAct. My problem with their #UX approach is that it's only planned as a third-party tab, with no promise of a setting that would place all the chats on the single page.
I realize they have security reservations, but I smell a dark pattern here: only do I message my people on WhatsApp from Matrix, they'd have to change tabs, making a chat with me stick like a sore thumb - or not stick at all.
Hot bottom-line: hiding behind a tab is no different than cutting off #interoperability altogether. Multi-messenger chats should become a first-party feature in synchronous software, to comply with #DMA. Targeted apps that don't care about such regulation have no future.
Digital Markets Act: Ausnahmen für Apple und Microsoft
Anfang März treten in der EU strengere Regeln für große Digitalkonzerne in Kraft. Sie sollen deren Marktmacht einschränken. Nun gewährt Brüssel aber Ausnahmen für einige Dienste von Apple und Microsoft.
Their reluctant allowance of third-party app stores, #sideloading, & alternative payments is nothing more than an act of #malicious compliance by #apple 🍎
Haha while #Apple lobbyists are trying to convince the EU Commission that they are the only party in the world capable of running a secure app store, a fraudster uploads a fake #LastPass app.
Good thing the #Apple App Store is secure, it would be a shame if the #DigitalMarketsAct allowed alternative platforms to set up shop and start pushing fake software to #iOS devices...
This whole blog post reads like Stockholm Syndrome with simp levels of brand loyalty
„I’d go slightly further and describe the DMA as anti-U.S.-big-business, because as far as I can tell, nothing in the DMA adversely affects or even annoys any European tech companies. There are aspects of it that seem written specifically for Spotify, in fact.“
It won't annoy European tech companies as much because the US tech giants have become so big that trying to go against them is financially unviable. US tech giants need to be reigned in to level this playing field. The EU as a body is uniquely positioned to do so, because US lawmakers sure as hell won’t and are dragging their feet because of some dumb ethos about individual freedoms or some shit. Yet a lot of Europeans depend on the services of these predatory tech giants with their vendor lock-ins. And Spotify can get fucked, they’re not better in the slightest
„I do not think the DMA is going to change much, if anything at all, for the better for iOS users in the E.U.“
It won't change much if Apple and other tech giants implement it with malicious compliance. Companies trying to undermine upcoming legislation is not an indication that the legislation is without merit. If anything, it just goes to show with how much pettiness big corporations will try to circumvent any law aimed at loosening their grip on controlling the entire market and extract value from people because they're making sure it's painful to leave
„Apple is proud, stubborn, arrogant, controlling, and convinced it has the best interests of its customers in mind.“
Stop humanizing a company. Their only priority is money drowned in a lot of nice sounding marketing babble to appear more benevolent than they really are, don't even lie to yourself
„Which side is smarter? My money has been on Apple. Yesterday’s announcements, I think, show why.“
Apple is only smart in as much as they try to circumvent regulation at all costs. They’ll always try to push the envelope within the legal framework they're dealing with, so they can say they're complying but actually shitting all over the intent of the legislation. Like Facebook did when they tried to use „small business owners“ in their smear campaign against Apple’s tracking protection dialogs. Nobody is a saint in this constellation
„Apple has also argued, consistently, that they seek to monetize third-party development for the iOS platform, and that being forced to change from their current system […] would greatly complicate how they monetize the platform. And now Apple has revealed a greatly complicated set of rules and policies for iPhone apps in the EU.“
Now this is just gaslighting at this point. Apple could've chosen to simply step out of the way and obviously chose not to do so because no good capitalist will leave precious money on the table. Instead they came up with rules specifically tailored to disincentivize developers to distribute their apps outside of Apple's own walled garden and make it financially ruinous to do so for smaller developers. Regardless of whether they operate in the US or the EU! They made sure to make it as painful as possible to leave, which is a common tactic among all of big tech, only this time they're doing it to third party developers, too.
The #EU’s #DigitalMarketsAct is an important piece of legislation. #Apple's malicious compliance is, if anything, an indicator how disdainful big tech has become to playing on a level playing field
However, this is still just another corporate pissing match between two giant companies that don't want to agree on who gets how much of the cake
No matter how much Sweeney is banging on about consumer rights, in the end he's only interested in keeping ALL the money from #Fortnite game sales and IAPs on #iOS for himself. Even if they could get rid of all #Apple#AppStore fees, #EpicGames will certainly not lower their prices by 30% because they're shaming Apple into implementing the #EU's #DigitalMarketsAct
It's clear #Apple doesn't want openness, alternatives and choice for their customers.
Even developers of free apps have to pay 50ct per installation per year if they reach more than 1 million installs and are distributed via an alternative app store. This is just insane 🤯
Apple lässt in der EU andere App-Stores auf dem iPhone zu
Apple reagiert auf rechtliche Vorgaben der EU und wird künftig die Installation von Apps aus Marktplätzen anderer Anbieter auf dem iPhone zulassen. Auch konkurrierende Bezahlmethoden werden gestattet.