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I had no idea that Apple had this restriction on apps. Quick search pulls up article to show that this is indeed the case [1]. This seems incredibly restrictive

I had no idea that Apple had this restriction on apps. Quick search pulls up article to show that this is indeed the case [1]. This seems incredibly restrictive especially particularly since Microsoft got into substantial trouble just for bundling internet explorer back in the day [2]. Are there any technical reasons for this restriction? [1] http://www.howtogeek.com/184283/why-third-party-browsers-will-always-be-inferior-to-safari-on-iphone-and-ipad/ http://www.howtogeek.com/184283/why-third-party-browsers-wil... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp.

dragonwriter 11y ago
> Microsoft got into substantial trouble just for bundling internet explorer back in the day No, they didn't. They got in trouble for attempting to protect monopoly power in the desktop personal computer operating system market and extent that power into other markets by, among other means, bundling IE.
felipeerias 11y ago
Developers can not bundle their own runtime and execute code that they download from the Internet. My understanding is that this constraint results in increased security and performance, while also ensuring that Apple keep their control on what runs on the device.
wishinghand 11y ago
That restriction is why there is no iOS Firefox.
adrusi 11y ago
iOS has its roots in web apps. The original iPhone didn't support third party apps, and Apple was pushing developers to use web technology to make apps. This attitude persisted for a long time and to an extent persists even today. When they introduced apps, they didn't want web apps to run differently in, say, the embedded browser of an RSS reader, than in Safari, because users have no clue that there's such a thing as different rendering engines and would be confused. Of course, for a long time, WebViews and Safari used different versions of webkit, but at least they had identically implemented APIs for integrating with mobile hardware and such.

dragonwriter 11y ago

> Microsoft got into substantial trouble just for bundling internet explorer back in the day No, they didn't. They got in trouble for attempting to protect monopoly power in the desktop personal computer operating system market and extent that power into other markets by, among other means, bundling IE.

felipeerias 11y ago

Developers can not bundle their own runtime and execute code that they download from the Internet. My understanding is that this constraint results in increased security and performance, while also ensuring that Apple keep their control on what runs on the device.

wishinghand 11y ago

That restriction is why there is no iOS Firefox.

adrusi 11y ago

iOS has its roots in web apps. The original iPhone didn't support third party apps, and Apple was pushing developers to use web technology to make apps. This attitude persisted for a long time and to an extent persists even today. When they introduced apps, they didn't want web apps to run differently in, say, the embedded browser of an RSS reader, than in Safari, because users have no clue that there's such a thing as different rendering engines and would be confused. Of course, for a long time, WebViews and Safari used different versions of webkit, but at least they had identically implemented APIs for integrating with mobile hardware and such.