Philippe DuchesneFeb 16, 2024
Bruce Lawson ✅ ♫ ♿ ✌️♂️✊
It’s Official, Apple Kills Web Apps in the EU https://open-web-advocacy.org/blog/its-official-apple-kills-web-apps-in-the-eu/ If you ship a Web App in the EU and will be impacted by this, please fill in our survey. It is critical that we gather as much evidence as possible to prevent Apple from breaking Web Apps in the EU.
It’s Official, Apple Kills Web Apps in the EU - Open Web Advocacy

Open Web Advocacy
Feb 16, 2024 at 1:11pmWeb
Show threadmav Feb 16, 2024
@brucelawson
This is particularly galling for those of us who remember our history, and how the original iPhone design wasn't even supposed to include third party apps at all, but rather use web apps exclusively.
Show threadZimmieFeb 16, 2024

@mav @brucelawson That’s incorrect. It was clear from the earliest days of jailbreaking that Apple decided to release the thing before they had the developer tools cleaned up enough to release. There were major internal changes in every release.

Third-party native applications weren’t part of the minimum viable product, but they were always intended.

Show threadAlbert HickeyFeb 16, 2024

@bob_zim Didn't know this.

I always through original plan was web apps but as web technology wasn't advanced enough as the time the only way to get better performance with direct access to the hardware was through native apps.

Show threadJef MartensFeb 17, 2024
@winkleink @bob_zim my master degree thesis was about appstores. It yielded a fairly relevant paper. The walled garden approach to ensure quality experiences is the main driver at the start. UX is king in Apple world. When the full potential of the app store became apparent and 30% transaction fees were only booed by devs, they kept the doors tightly shut for functionality iOS only.
Link to paper: https://www.mdpi.com/0718-1876/6/2/17
A Comparison of Inter-Organizational Business Models of Mobile App Stores: There is more than Open vs. Closed

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the competition among mobile app stores for smart mobile media devices. Therefore, the business models of seven mobile app stores are analyzed with a special focus on Apple and Google. We use e3-value modelling – a formal business modelling technique – for analyzing the critical elements of these mobile ecosystems. The analysis of the app store ecosystems allows a differentiated view on the different strategies of the app store owners. Additionally, we look at the impact of network effects, economies of scale, platform differentiation, quality assurance, and transaction costs on the design of mobile application markets. This theoretical model allows a deeper discussion about the design choices and success factors in the different app store cases. Based on our analysis, we expect that the open versus closed models discussion becomes less relevant – so-called open platforms have closed aspects as well as the other way around – and that competitive differentiation and segmentation strategies will become increasingly critical in order to strengthen the competitive positioning of the different app store platforms.

MDPI
Show threadmav Feb 16, 2024
@bob_zim
Interesting, ok. Unsurprising that their PR does not match the facts, I suppose
@brucelawson
Show threadAlan BristowFeb 16, 2024
@brucelawson Disgusting. Absolutely feels like a reprimanded bully lashing out in their hood to prove they’re in charge, ignoring the ethics and ramifications of their actions.
Show threadMartin AuswögerFeb 16, 2024
@brucelawson why is it not possible to select more than 10% loss as an impact in the survey?
Show threadFrancesco P Lovergine Feb 16, 2024
@brucelawson
Bah f*ck you, Apple Inc. 🖕
Show threadSebastixFeb 16, 2024
@brucelawson I’m still pissed https://sebastix.nl/blog/apple-is-killing-webapps-pwas-power-play-against-the-eu/
Apple is killing WebApps and PWAs in their power-play against the EU

Apple is going all-in with a fight against the EU by disabling all WebApp and PWA (progressive web app) features only in EU countries.

Show threadjouniFeb 16, 2024
@brucelawson They are not killing Web Apps, just PWAs from Europe area because European "wise" decisions. I haven't seen a single WPA app so probably no actual harm done. You can access the web based apps like before but not use the local storage that PWA provides. Not in any means a big deal really. Apple is not the killer here, it is EU.
Show threadAlanFeb 16, 2024

@jouni @brucelawson It's a billion dollar company. You don't have to volunteer for their PR spin, they can pay professionals.

If you think PWAs are so unimportant that this doesn't matter, why do you waste your time arguing about them instead of doing something you care about?

Show threadSam HauglustaineFeb 16, 2024
@jouni @brucelawson I'm reading (and replying to) this from a PWA. Albeit on Android. It works so well, I find myself every so often checking if it actually really is a PWA.
Show threadJef MartensFeb 17, 2024
@brucelawson thanks for bringing this to our attention. How much I hope that EU representatives have iDevices and now will face defunct software if this is allowed. It finally show the battles also for software engineers and devs that have many requests to 'just build an app/PWA cross platform'. The hours I spent as a Business Analyst trying to explain to business owners that their simple iDevice does have an evil OS design on purpose...