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> Also, on macOS, you were sold the explicit ability to run whatever software you want. It's purpose is to run software from third-parties. I agree with that,
by baddox 6y ago
> Also, on macOS, you were sold the explicit ability to run whatever software you want. It's purpose is to run software from third-parties.
I agree with that, and I think there would be a much stronger argument if Apple changed MacOS to remove this ability when it is a very well-established ability of the Mac platform. Of course, Apple almost certainly will not remove this ability, not because they want to be nice or they want to dodge antitrust allegations, but because they know that doing so would lose them customers.
But with iPhone, my argument is that this is absolutely not the expectation fostered by Apple's marketing or held by the vast majority of iPhone owners. Apple has always been very proud of its App Store and its (supposedly) strict vetting process to protect iPhone owners from malware, privacy violations, and other junk. Now, I personally think Apple should be much more restrictive about what apps it allows in the store, because there is a vast wasteland of abandoned apps and junk apps. If anything, the iPhone seems to have gotten less and less restrictive over time (the first iPhone didn't even support any third-party software, after all). I have a lot of trouble buying the argument that any significant number of iPhone owners expected to be able to run any third-party software they want to.
- arcticbull 6y ago> I have a lot of trouble buying the argument that any significant number of iPhone owners expected to be able to run any third-party software they want to. While I agree with the overwhelming majority of your reply, I'd suggest that the significant majority of iPhone owners expect to be able to run "any third-party software they want" because they expect substantially any third-party software they would want to be available in the App Store. Removing Epic is violating that implicit understanding.
- baddox 6y agoI see your point, but surely it's not controversial that Epic very deliberately broke the rules in order to get its app removed from the App Store, right? Epic is probably just hoping that iPhone owners will take Epic's side and blame Apple for the removal (or even more likely, Epic only cares about the effects of the PR on the court case). I can't predict how every iPhone owner who plays Fortnite will react to this, but it seems like any slightly inquisitive person would look at the situation and think, hmm, it seems like Fortnite existed on the App Store for a long time, so what changed?