Not every day the CEO sends a company to buy competitors’ devices
Photo: Apple
The legal battle between Apple and Epic Games has raised the possibility that Apple will allow third-party installation of apps (sideloading – through third-party stores or websites) – with the Fortnite developer doing everything to persuade a judge to force Apple to open its site. Closed garden. If you’ve been following the results of the experiment, you know that didn’t happen, and as far as Apple CEO Tim Cook is concerned, anyone interested in ditching their Apple device is welcome to turn to competitors.
unhappy? Go to competitors
If there is anything to Apple, about the group of CEOs who testified in the lawsuit against Epic, the concern that should be made clear in the lawsuit is that installing apps through a third party is the biggest risk to its ecosystem — especially to users. It used intimidation tactics so that fraudsters could exploit its users, or children who could be harmed by apps that weren’t properly filtered – all so as not to diminish their complete control over the ecosystem.
At this week’s New York Times conference with Cook in attendance, he continued that rhetoric — saying “I think people now have the power to choose, and if you want to install third-party apps, you can buy an Android device.” If this (sideloading) is important to you, then you should buy an Android device. “
Cook argued that in Apple’s view, installing third-party apps is the equivalent of a car manufacturer selling cars to its customers and telling them they don’t need to have seat belts or airbags installed. “It’s very dangerous,” Cook says of this scenario — arguing that the iPhone wouldn’t be an iPhone without all the barriers Apple puts in place for the privacy and security of its users.
Cook followed up on one of his senior vice presidents – Craig Federighi – who last week claimed that installing apps not through the Apple App Store is “cybercriminals’ best friend”. Pedrigi compares the iPhone to the house you have fitted with the best security system, to prevent thieves from entering it, while you see that your “neighbors” suffer burglaries over and over again. “But then the new law is passed… and everyone has to install a door that is always open… and some of your neighbors like the idea, but you’re not sure about it. Once you install the door, anyone can go through it.”
Pedrigi also referred to the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act, which, if passed, would force Apple to allow its users to install apps on iOS devices even without its own App Store. Although Pedrigi had been showering European legislators a little, claiming that they were often ahead of their time in the good sense of the word, in this case, he claimed, they were taking a step that would set the world of security back.
Not even through the mouths of company executives, Apple in the past has published numerous reports and position papers against installing apps not through the Appstore. Apple claims, among other things, that Android users download 15 times more malicious apps than iOS users because operating system developers will be among those affected by the move because pirated copies of their products can reach iPhones if you allow it. Sideloading – which will hurt the bottom line for these developers, allow their app to be installed for a fee or charge any subscription to use it.
Oshri Alexelci
Neighborhood freak friendly. Do you have a technology story? Talk to me: Oshry@geektime.co.il
