Comment: End of the two -part world at Apple

As an Apple user, I enjoy special freedom in Europe: I can not only obtain apps from the App Store, but also from alternative marketplaces. With the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the EU wants to ensure more competition and break Apple’s monopoly. However, the group hardly has to worry about loss of sales-because there are no large app store alternatives.

Further special rules apply to us EU citizens. We can even delete apps such as messages or safari from the device and thus completely replace them with competitors. In addition, iOS and iPados actively ask me to choose the standard browser. In truth, however, this dialogue only gives the appearance of real freedom of choice: Under the hood, every iOS browser continues to use Apple’s webkit engine for the presentation of the content. Chrome, Firefox & Co. are just a kind of safari in a new guise-and remain pale shadows of their desktop versions. On the other hand, Apple never considered such restrictions to be necessary on the Mac.

Browser providers in the EU have been able to use their own engines for over a year. Nevertheless, real alternatives for iPhone and iPad are still missing. Apple is not innocent, because for the rest of the world they stick to the web kit. If you want to offer an independent browser for iOS/iPados, you would only have to maintain a separate version for the EU-for less than ten percent of the global app store market. It is economically understandable that developers shy away from this effort. An important building block for the iPad is still missing as a full-fledged desktop replacement. In particular, some business web applications simply don’t work with webkit.

Apple should finally give up the world’s artificial division. The EU has created the basis for more freedom – the Californians could easily roll out globally. Then developers could offer their applications without confusingly fragmented specifications or special technical paths worldwide. Apple itself would also benefit if they no longer had to incorporate and maintain complex switches for various regions into their systems.

This comment first appeared as an editorial in Mac & I 4/2025 – now fresh at the kiosk and free of charge In the Heise Shop.