brucelawson

brucelawson, 2 months ago

A vital Q from a developer in the room who, as a kid, made a free open-source app that was downloaded millions of times. Under Apple's new proposal that apps distributed through an alt app store pay them a Core technology Fee of 50c per first install, he would have owed Apple 5 million Euros for his free app. Is that fair? (Dozens of hands raised.)

brucelawson, 2 months ago

Apple lawyer blames the DMA for forcing this change, after his pat line about how Apple has driven innovation over 15 years. But he says they don't want to penalise "the dreamers", so "stay tuned". Which on the face of it sounds good, but no-one should pay a fee if their app gets installed on an expensive device owned by someone who has already paid Apple a premium for the core technology it contains. Would people buy an iPhone if there were no apps available?

brucelawson, 2 months ago

Lovely to see Cecil Sockpuppet and Agnetha Astroturf in the room.

brucelawson, 2 months ago

Apple lawyers are really tugging at my heartstrings with their third mention of just how much effort and hard work Apple has done to meet their obligations. It's not like Apple is one of the largest companies in the world or anything. I might organise a gofundme.

brucelawson, 2 months ago

And now, rather bafflingly, an Apple VP is freestyling, and musing about how they've seen competition in regulated environment making everything better.

brucelawson, 2 months ago

Apple's VP just said ""Apple has done a lot to enable web apps over the years and will continue to do so. If developers want a specific feature they can 'reach out', or come to WWDC". Web Apps do not incur Core Technology Fee.

brucelawson, 2 months ago

This new Apple love for web apps is somewhat surprising so soon after some naughty boys from, er, Apple tried to sneak out and drown Home Screen Apps in a bucket without telling anyone, then bawled "The EU made me do it!" when they were caught. https://brucelawson.co.uk/2024/happy-dma-day-to-all/

brucelawson, 2 months ago

And lunch. The excitement resumes in 1 hour. Stay tuned while your intrepid reporter wolfs down a reheated chicken biryani during an unrelated meeting …

brucelawson, 2 months ago

And we're back, for the session on Interoperability. "Interop will always be an essential design principle when designing new versions of iOS. Each year we reinvent iPhone to add new features etc. We err on the side of protecting users."

brucelawson, 2 months ago

"There's a new process for developers to submit new interoperability requests. Apple will decide if those fit within scope of DMA. If it does, Apple decides if effective interop exists. If it doesn't, we'll decide if we can open it up and open a tentative project plan. If we decide against it, we'll tell the developer."

brucelawson, 2 months ago

Those interop solutions will generally be available within the EU although some may only be available through a managed entitlement process.

brucelawson, 2 months ago

"We've done this in order to open up a dialogue between Apple and developers. … the risks to privacy and security are real." And now to alternative browser engines....

brucelawson, 2 months ago

3rd party engines - including in-app browsers - will have access to a set of iOS APIs on a managed entitlement basis. They will have access to JIT compilations. "We're confident that most major browser vendors already meet relevant security and privacy thresholds."

brucelawson, 2 months ago

"We believe WebKit is the best and will therefore keep it as a requirement outside the EU. It has allowed Apple to send important security updates to all apps."

brucelawson, 2 months ago

Some more stuff about how WebKit is deeply integrated into iOS and the hard, hard work that Apple is doing to decouple them. (There has, apparently, never been a major security problem with WebKit and iOS. Ahem, xCode Ghost apps)

brucelawson, 2 months ago

For the 2nd time, Apple has warned of the dangers of allowing any developer to access any and all aspects of iOS and the user's data.

No-one at all is suggesting this or asking for it.

brucelawson, 2 months ago

@Edent What better way to spend a day's annual leave, eh?

brucelawson, 2 months ago

@Edent Oh, ta - but I didn't go to Belgium; attending remotely

brucelawson, 2 months ago

Coffee break now. The mood in the room turned notably darker during that session, with people pushing against the Apple lawyers' repeated dodging of questions and their insistence that the 3rd party vendor contract is anything other than preposterous obstacles. (More on this excitng work of absurdist fiction: https://open-web-advocacy.org/blog/owa-review-apple-dma-compliance-for-web/#apple%E2%80%99s-new-contract-for-browsers-that-wish-to-use-their-own-engine)

brucelawson, 2 months ago

@matt Or Apple could compete and make webkit so great people want to use it (as on Mac). If anyone has marketing clout, engineering nouse and brand loyalty to compete with Google, Apple can.

brucelawson, 2 months ago

The last section is on data-related DMA provisions, so not something I know much about. Apple kicked off with the laudable statement that "privacy is a human right". (unless you live in China, of course.)

brucelawson, 2 months ago

We asked Apple why their compliance report is only 12 pages (Microsoft was 421pp, Google's was 221pp). They replied that it's very clear and everyone understands what they're doing to comply with DMA.

I'm sure PWA owners, devs and users in the EU are enormously grateful for Apple's clarity over the last few weeks on what they're doing to comply with the DMA.

brucelawson, 2 months ago

And that's a wrap for the Apple one. Chair noted that they promised to come back with more answers and some Qs were not, ahem, fully answered. It's the beginning of a process; EU facilitated, but did not ask questions (that's later). Other gatekeepers get to sit in the Chair of Interrogation throughout the week. Phew. Over and out, Fam. xx

brucelawson, 2 months ago

@matt But they've set out their stall on privacy and security, and frequently stated that WebKit is the safest and most secure engine. @plankton

brucelawson, 2 months ago

An interesting article about how yesterday's DMA meeting was full of "Complaining Competitors" (which is untrue; we are web developers, not megacorps) from the "Center for European Policy Analysis", whose 2024 "supporters" include Amazon, Google, Meta … and Apple. https://cepa.org/article/europes-dma-a-chorus-of-complaining-competitors/