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Zuckerberg Says Apple's Policies Not 'Sustainable' (axios.com) 124

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday added to the growing chorus of concerns about Apple, arguing that it's "problematic that one company controls what happens on the device." Axios reports: "I think the problem is that you get into it with the platform control, is that Apple obviously has their own interests," Zuckerberg said at The New York Times' Dealbook conference. "[T]he fact that companies have to deliver their apps exclusively through platforms that are controlled by competitors -- there is a conflict of interest there," he said. That conflict of interest makes Apple "not just a kind of governor that is looking out for the best of people's interests."

Zuckerberg also noted that Apple's policies differ from other tech giants, including Microsoft and Google, which allow apps to be sideloaded onto devices if they're inaccessible in app stores. "I do think Apple has sort of singled themselves out as the only company that is trying to control, unilaterally, what apps get on the device and I don't think that's a sustainable or a good place to be." Changes to Apple's app tracking policies last year are expected to cost Meta billions of dollars in lost ad revenue.

Zuckerberg's comments come days after Musk publicly attacked Apple, alleging the company's app store policies are an abuse of power. Asked about Musk's content moderation decisions, Zuckerberg didn't go as far as to endorse his strategy, but said, "I kind of think the world in the industry gets more interesting when people take some different approaches." "[Y[ou can agree or disagree with what Elon is doing, or how he's doing it. But I do think it's going to be very interesting to see how this plays out in terms of the approaches he's taking."
When asked about TikTok, Zuckerberg said it raises "a very complex set of questions" about the involvement of the Chinese state with TikTok's affairs. "I'm sure it's complicated."

Further reading: Mark Zuckerberg Still 'Long-Term Optimistic' on Metaverse, Says Skepticism Doesn't Bother Him Too Much
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Zuckerberg Says Apple's Policies Not 'Sustainable'

Comments Filter:
  • Color me shocked (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sethmeisterg ( 603174 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @07:04PM (#63092410)
    The someone with a vested interest in breaking open the iOS app store has this opinion. The truth is, the walled garden approach, while not ideal for everyone, has kept users safer than the wild west approach that Android offers.
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by blahabl ( 7651114 )

      The someone with a vested interest in breaking open the iOS app store has this opinion. The truth is, the walled garden approach, while not ideal for everyone, has kept users safer than the wild west approach that Android offers.

      All of the positives could have been achieved by having the store be open, and having some apps get a "revieved and certified by Apple" mark or something. Don't like wild west, never install anything without the certificate. Simple as that.

      So please don't act like this is about Apple being pro-consumer.

      • by Known Nutter ( 988758 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @07:55PM (#63092510)

        and having some apps get a "revieved and certified by Apple" mark or something

        At whose expense, exactly?

        • If it's such a great value proposition, the app publishers themselves should be happy to pay for it.

        • Most Android apps are delivered through the Google Play store, and Google gets the same kind of cut Apple does, despite the fact that you can have as many app stores as you want on your Android phone, or just sideload. The problem with the app store is not that it exists, and it would still be viable even if sideloading existed. Apple could reasonably refuse to warranty the phone's software for sideloaders, and if you bring them a phone and they need to wipe it to service it, then any data loss is your prob

        • by nasch ( 598556 )

          What expense are you talking about? Apple is currently incurring the expense of reviewing and certifying all apps in their store. Do you mean who would pay the costs of also hosting non-Apple certified apps?

      • by RespekMyAthorati ( 798091 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @08:48PM (#63092582)

        So please don't act like this is about Apple being pro-consumer

        Apple is pro-Apple.
        That's how capitalism works, and Apple customers like it
        that way.

        Sour grapes, Zuck.

      • by musicmaker ( 30469 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @10:49PM (#63092734) Homepage

        You've never met real users have you? These are the people that install MacKeeper and such and then wonder why their computer is SO slow. They'd blast right past that certified by Apple sign not even noticing it. It's the same reason Jobs wouldn't let Flash on his phone. It's not the Apps that get the blame by and large, it's the phone.

        I'm an Apple iPhone user, and I want it this way. I like it this way, and I want to pay the premium to have it stay this way. I'm an informed consumer, and I like this walled garden thank you.

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by ccguy ( 1116865 )

          I'm an Apple iPhone user, and I want it this way. I like it this way, and I want to pay the premium to have it stay this way. I'm an informed consumer, and I like this walled garden thank you.

          Maybe you can make it opt-in or opt-out so those of you in the walled garden can enjoy it while those who'd prefer being able to install anything they want, can?

          • by defago ( 314293 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @02:14AM (#63092962)

            I'm an Apple iPhone user, and I want it this way. I like it this way, and I want to pay the premium to have it stay this way. I'm an informed consumer, and I like this walled garden thank you.

            Maybe you can make it opt-in or opt-out so those of you in the walled garden can enjoy it while those who'd prefer being able to install anything they want, can?

            Isn't that what Android is for? There it is the opt-out of the walled garden.
            The main grippe that Zuckerberg has with Apple is only because Meta cannot track users without obtaining their consent; i.e., how everything should have been in the first place.

            • by ccguy ( 1116865 )

              Isn't that what Android is for? There it is the opt-out of the walled garden.

              Sure, if you want Android :-)

              The main grippe that Zuckerberg has with Apple is only because Meta cannot track users without obtaining their consent; i.e., how everything should have been in the first place.

              You might make it all about Zuckerberg, but just because it's him it doesn't mean he's right (even if his motives are not pure, obviously).
              What should have been in the first place (and WAS, but we accepted the change) is the right to use what you buy as you want. This "you can't install this or that on YOUR phone" BS shouldn't be accepted.
              Not that Android is much better though. You can install apps from outside the official store, sure, but those are themselves are limited int

          • Why? Thereâ(TM)s already a choice if you donâ(TM)t like it. The iPhone only has 15% market share globally. Why do we need to join the race to the bottom?

            • by xanthos ( 73578 )
              And the income level of that 15% makes them a more attractive target to be "Meta-tagged" to be sold to the highest ad bidder.
            • by ccguy ( 1116865 )

              Why? Thereâ(TM)s already a choice if you donâ(TM)t like it. The iPhone only has 15% market share globally. Why do we need to join the race to the bottom?

              I'm pretty sure you know the global market is not so important.

              • by Malc ( 1751 )

                Sure, it's about 50% in the US. But still, plenty of choice.

                Or perhaps a rejection by a large part of the population to Facebook/Meta's crap.

                • by ccguy ( 1116865 )

                  Or perhaps a rejection by a large part of the population to Facebook/Meta's crap.

                  It's an ads company. Their business is about personalized advertising.

                  I don't get my get worked up over what Meta has about you while Google has everything through Gmail, maps, and search, Amazon has it through your purchase history, and well, if you use an iPhone then Apple also has it and they're going into ads.

                  • I donâ(TM)t use Google either. There are exceptions, like if somebody sends a google maps link, but that gets opened in a private browser window.

          • You can opt out, purchase an android or google device, or other smart phone OS.

            And you can opt in by purchasing an iPhone. Like the poster above, for a phone, I want a walled garden, I am sure we are not the only ones

            • by ccguy ( 1116865 )

              You can opt out, purchase an android or google device, or other smart phone OS.

              And you can opt in by purchasing an iPhone. Like the poster above, for a phone, I want a walled garden, I am sure we are not the only ones

              Your "if you don't like it buy something else" answer will surely bite you in the ass at some point.

          • No, because when I go to the Apple Store to get something fixed I do not want to wait in a massive line of people who downloaded shitty apps.
            • by nasch ( 598556 )

              I am now curious how often you have to go to the Apple store to get something fixed.

        • Re:Color me shocked (Score:4, Informative)

          by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @03:56AM (#63093064)

          It's the same reason Jobs wouldn't let Flash on his phone.

          Errr no. You bought and drank that kool aid, but Flash had a more anti-user reason behind it: Jobs banned the running of any third party untrusted code on this devices. Flash allowed people to do things like play games from outside of the App store. It got caught along with many other apps in the "no interpreted code" dragnet.

          Don't re-write history. You can support Apple's practices without resorting to that. There's no shame in liking a controlled and curated experience.

        • You've never met real users have you? These are the people that install MacKeeper and such and then wonder why their computer is SO slow. They'd blast right past that certified by Apple sign not even noticing it.

          You mean the MacKeeper that's been permitted by Apple to use the same certs as an antivirus program, and therefore is in fact certified by Apple?

        • As an Android user... I agree. I switched to Android so I can use more "dangerous" apps. Fully knowing that it could be the app that is the problem not my device or the OS. But I never had been a normal user. While the walked garden may me limited to me, for a lot of folks it is a godsend. As too many options drive bad decisions.
          There is a bunch of posts why doesn't Apple just give them a switch to go off the walled garden. The answer is because too many people will go that route and not really unders

      • I'm a bit torn.

        It would be nice to not have Apple have such a stranglehold...BUT, I really do like Apples policy on how much apps can track you, something that grinds FB's gears, and appropriately so.

      • How did this get rated Flamebait?

        I've always thought Apple could stop all this nonsense dead in its tracks if they did either what you're suggesting, or offered some form of setting on iOS devices where, by default it's set to only allow the store, and Apple direct updates, but if you flick this switch, and read the warnings (which nobody would, but will at least legally be something to protect them), go ahead and have a free-for-all. Option to restore the OS could be the backup.

        I know the reluctance is mon

    • Re:Color me shocked (Score:5, Informative)

      by rgmoore ( 133276 ) <glandauer@charter.net> on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @07:40PM (#63092482) Homepage

      The truth is, the walled garden approach, while not ideal for everyone, has kept users safer than the wild west approach that Android offers.

      I don't think the walled garden approach is as important for security as it is for privacy. As far as I can tell, very few users actually side-load apps, and I can't ever remember a major security problem coming from side-loading. Where denying the ability to side-load is really valuable is enforcing privacy rules. Apple can ban apps that violate user privacy in various ways and make it stick. If they allowed side-loading, a powerful company like Facebook could probably pull their app from the store, make it available only as a side-load, and expect users to install it that way. It would still hurt Facebook- some people would probably give up Facebook on their phone rather than side-load- but they're important enough that a lot of users would do what was necessary to get their fix. That would let them bypass whatever privacy rules Apple enforces through the app store rather than at the OS level. Google can't even pretend to enforce the same kinds of rules because they know a company like Facebook could bypass them if push came to shove.

      • I think that is exactly right. It is difficult to overestimate how much the iOS privacy restriction has impacted Metaâ(TM)a businessâ"its right there in their financials.

        But if they can pile on with Twitter and force Apple to allow side loading as a consequence it could have a measurable impact on Metas business model.

        There is no love list between Apple and Meta at this point.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by drinkypoo ( 153816 )

        I don't think the walled garden approach is as important for security as it is for privacy.

        More and more articles have been coming out about how Apple spies on users, and collects their PII, so what you're saying is that the walled garden is completely worthless. And I agree. Thanks for coming around to the side of freedom.

      • Even if they allowed side loading, the fight would move from 'Users are not free' to 'Users will not do this so Apple is hurting me'.

      • id say a good 3rd of the apps i use daily are side loaded, but then again, i still read slashdot daily so im not in the majority
      • by nasch ( 598556 )

        Apple can ban apps that violate user privacy in various ways and make it stick.

        Maybe.

        Yet Another Report Suggests Apple’s Well-Hyped New Privacy Standards Are Performative :

        https://www.techdirt.com/2022/... [techdirt.com]

    • Iâ(TM)m shocked that someone controlling and manipulating an app considered by many users to be the entire internet, and then another person imprinting his fascist politics on his own walled garden, are complaining that thereâ(TM)s yet another market force out there creating boundaries for them.

    • by nyet ( 19118 )

      Idiotic take. Zuckerberg is wrong; it is perfectly sustainable not because the walled garden approach "protects users" (which is clearly fawning stupidity) but rather this:

      Nobody ever lost money rent seeking or running a monopoly.

    • Open up cars, tractors, etc⦠not sure how open Tesla is , but other autos are restricted and expensive. Apple should consider a step down in fees to 20%. Would sting but probably hold off anti trust.
    • Itâ(TM)s my expensive pocket computer. I should be able to run whatever legal software I want to run on it to do whatever legal action I want to do.

      If that activity is distasteful to appleâ(TM)s sensibilities ⦠itâ(TM)s my computer.

      RMS was right.

    • by crioca ( 1394491 )
      I would love to see Apple forced to open up their platform in general, but only as long as it's part of a wider movement of openness in technology platforms that impacts all the tech giants. Anti-trust shouldn't be applied piecemeal.
    • No, absolutely not. Zuckerberg is a world renowned impartial & selflessly rational expert in his field. His Metaverse IS the future of the interwebs pipes & we're all lucky to have him. Let's vote for Zuckerberg as the next leader of the GOP (after Kanye West has had his two terms) & then onwards to president!
    • Thank you. You saved me from having to come up with a nice way to put it myself.

    • The someone with a vested interest in breaking open the iOS app store has this opinion. The truth is, the walled garden approach, while not ideal for everyone, has kept users safer than the wild west approach that Android offers.

      Color me shocked that someone who is probably STILL angry as heck over Apple's do not track policy (letting users opt out in a slightly easier fashion to location tracking and whatnot) being implemented, despite it being a minor step. Someone who was publicly lambasted over changing the way links are used to try and get around that policy, no less. What you're saying is that Zucky Ducky has a humongous financial motive in breaking Apple's App Store control? FORSOOTH!

      He calls it unsustainable. I point ou

  • Sour grapes (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @07:12PM (#63092420)
    I hate Apple too but it's their platform and Facebook / Meta has to abide by their rules. Just as developers writing games for Oculus headsets have to abide by Meta's rules.

    And really he's just pissed that Apple laid down rules about tracking & privacy that Facebook desperately wants to circumvent.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by blahabl ( 7651114 )

      I hate Apple too but it's their platform and Facebook / Meta has to abide by their rules. Just as developers writing games for Oculus headsets have to abide by Meta's rules.

      And really he's just pissed that Apple laid down rules about tracking & privacy that Facebook desperately wants to circumvent.

      No. They are not a mom-and-pop bakery, that you can ignore and go to a competitor two streets away. if you don't like their rules They are happily running a duopoly with Google, and as such they shouldn't get all the freedoms accorded to small businesses which have to compete in a *real* free market. It's high time for them to be struck with the antitrust stick, and struck HARD.

      • LuckyBerg wahh , Apple innovates while his super lucky success allowed him to buy some other good ideas but then went overboard on Meta. Meta might come around but ROI could be a very long recovery
      • What's stopping Meta - or Twitter, for that matter - from creating their own phone devices? Free market, right? Chips and screens are out there. They could even co-opt an existing OS, if they didn't want to write their own. Zuck should stop crying, pull up his granny panties, and get to it.
        • by DrXym ( 126579 )
          Oculus is basically co-opted Android so yup Meta has been there already. I'm sure also if we went back through the graveyard of failed phone operating systems there would be at least one where Facebook had a stake in the action.
        • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

          What's stopping Meta - or Twitter, for that matter - from creating their own phone devices? Free market, right? Chips and screens are out there. They could even co-opt an existing OS, if they didn't want to write their own. Zuck should stop crying, pull up his granny panties, and get to it.

          Nothing really. I think at one point the "facebook phone" was actually done - they had phones where you connected to a limited version of the internet that was basically facebook and wikipedia and that's it. On the other

      • by DrXym ( 126579 )
        Meta has deep pockets. If they are so aggrieved they can go to a lawmaker and get the laws changed. Or sue Apple.

        Or they could stop supporting the platform altogether, or serve more ads to compensate, or charge advertisers more for impressions on that platform, or put the entire platform on a development tier below the rivals so it costs less to maintain.

        Besides all that, there is some massive hypocrisy going on with Twitter and Facebook. Neither of them are open protocols or federated. Neither of them

      • Listen man, your Meta shares are headed for the dumpster, this is not going to save that shit-hole company no matter how much you scream into the ether. You cannot use "free market" and Facebook in the same sentence because if anything Facebook has one of the worst track records of supporting free markets (buy competitors much?)
    • by ccguy ( 1116865 )

      Just as developers writing games for Oculus headsets have to abide by Meta's rules.

      You can install anything you want on an Oculus device. You can unlock it, or you can even sideload stuff with no need to unlock. Or install an alternate store such as sidequest.

      • by DrXym ( 126579 )
        So Meta, the company that created their own platform opened a crack for sideloading. That's their right. As it is Apple's right not to do the same for their platform. Same for Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Amazon, Steam, Epic et al. See how it works?

        As I said, I hate Apple. But it's their platform and the best way for consumers or even app developers to loosen their grip is with their wallets. Invest the dollars on another platform.

  • Pot, meet kettle (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jenningsthecat ( 1525947 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @07:12PM (#63092422)

    It's laughable and hypocritical that Zuck is attacking Apple for not being "a kind of governor that is looking out for the best of people's interests." What a sad little clown of a billionaire struggling to hold on to his fleeting, accidental relevance in the world.

    • by Richard_at_work ( 517087 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @08:09PM (#63092532)

      More to the point, when can I offer my own adverts on Facebook without Facebook taking a cut or having a say on my ad or choosing who my ad is displayed to?

      Hmmm, wait a minute, that would require Zuck to loosen up the control he has on his own walled garden. Whens that going to happen?

      • by Anonymous Coward

        More to the point, when can I offer my own adverts on Facebook without Facebook taking a cut or having a say on my ad or choosing who my ad is displayed to?

        Hmmm, wait a minute, that would require Zuck to loosen up the control he has on his own walled garden. Whens that going to happen?

        Heck, I'd like to just customize the Facebook UI a little to make it easier to read. Facebook actually fights this!

        Look at the obfuscation they use (and keep modifying) for UI elements even for simple things like the "Sponsored" text: https://dev.to/ganderzz/how-fa... [dev.to]

      • by ccguy ( 1116865 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @01:14AM (#63092900) Homepage

        More to the point, when can I offer my own adverts on Facebook without Facebook taking a cut or having a say on my ad or choosing who my ad is displayed to?

        Hmmm, wait a minute, that would require Zuck to loosen up the control he has on his own walled garden. Whens that going to happen?

        Any time you want. It's called posting and it's free.

    • What a sad little clown of a billionaire

      It's not sad. It's literally part of the job description. A CEO has to be critical of other companies that don't currently fit their strategic direction. Today Apple and Meta are at odds with each other, so it's not sad that one would complain about the other, it's expected.

  • Keywords (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Smonster ( 2884001 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @07:13PM (#63092424)
    I think he undercuts his own argument by pointing out “Apple is the only company” doing something he doesn’t like. Which of course also means there are in fact other options. Secondly all these companies who are complaining that Apple doesn’t allow them to harvest data so they can reap higher profits are in fact still able to reach any user of an Apple product via the web. The fact these companies make the mobile web experience poor or even unusable by redirecting to their app is their deliberate business choice they make. Of course they do this because even in its current form they can still haven’t more user date via the app than via the web browser.
  • Just look at Sears. Or ToysRUS. Or TG&Y or Chrysler

    Businesses are going to engage in policy that generates profit, like MS policy of leveraging the Internet Browser to maximize the monopoly. They will do so until it is not efffective, when MS was unable to leverage the monopoly stays on mobile devices

    Market and regulatory pressures are already forcing able to cede control. Like when Apple forced the music industry to allow rip/mix/burn and almost sent the labels to bankruptcy. The labels adjusted. L

    • by Flexagon ( 740643 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @07:34PM (#63092472)

      The only issue here is that Zuckerberg never had even a short term sustainable business model.

      Exactly. Of the two, Apple or Zuckerberg's Meta/Facebook, it's Zuckerberg who has the unsustainable business model. Apple has been sustaining its business since well before Zuckerberg was born, never mind Facebook.

      • Except for when they went broke.
      • by jwhyche ( 6192 )

        Exactly. Of the two, Apple or Zuckerberg's Meta/Facebook, it's Zuckerberg who has the unsustainable business model. Apple has been sustaining its business since well before Zuckerberg was born, never mind Facebook.

        Exactly, again. I'm not a apple fan but even I must admit that apple is a wildly successful company. Apple is worth 2.3 trillion bucks, I think?. Where as facebook, i will not call it meta, lost how many billions in the last year?

        It would be in Suckerberg's best interested to plug the holes in his own sinking boat first.

    • Every company you mentioned w as bought biy a hedge fund who then drained out the cash and made the compnay pay the hedge fund back for the buyout.

      It happens so often. Twitter instead of being bought by a hedge fund got bought out by a megomanic who wants to make it free and open but only for his definition of free and open. Watch as twitter starts to ban liberal and point of views that musk doesnt like s

      • by fermion ( 181285 )
        Their failure was what made them attractive to hedge funds. They were not a going concern, but the had assets that could be leveraged and drained. In the case of sears, it became a real estate company. The locations were some of the most valuable property in my city. Sears tower was ri-e for the pickings. On the other hand, one grocery store chain in my city had the sense to stop being in real estate. They sold their most valuable properties and refocused on selling groceries.
  • to spend money with both hands while getting little back?
  • by schwit1 ( 797399 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @07:29PM (#63092462)

    It's also a problem that one company controls what happens on Facebook and Instagram.

    Time to break up the MAGA: Meta Amazon Google Apple

  • by hdyoung ( 5182939 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @07:35PM (#63092476)
    Apple has the nicest walled garden on the street. The hillbillies down the street are angry that they can't stroll into the garden whenever they feel like it, take a big steaming dump on the lawn, and steal the garden hose as they leave.

    Apple, please ignore the complaints and keep that wall high. A big part of the reason I'm there is because you keep out the riffraff. If I want a wild wild west environment where there are no rules, I can do whatever I want, but I also need to carry a shotgun? There's another house down the street I can move to. It's called "Android".

    This is about variety of choice. Why should we force everyone to be a carbon copy of Android?
    • by ZipK ( 1051658 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @08:22PM (#63092538)
      Agreed. Those who choose Apple do so willingly, and can choose Android if they prefer something different. Zuckerberg doesn't like that consumers can choose to live in a walled garden that limits his options for monetizing their data.
    • by kn ( 167667 )

      Completely agree, the walled garden is the main reason I use an iPhone too. It gives me some comfort believing that my privacy is respected and that malicious apps are much rarer for the apps in the app store. I am still cautious, but it's nice to know Apple is doing something to help and, in a way, demonstrating to the market that privacy and security are still important to some.

    • by bool2 ( 1782642 ) on Thursday December 01, 2022 @12:18AM (#63092826) Homepage
      Allowing other people to sideload applications onto their devices doesn't affect your walled garden.
  • I don't own any Apple stock ATM. But, I could see myself owning some again in the future. Meta stock not so much!
  • by sarren1901 ( 5415506 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @07:39PM (#63092480)

    I don't see the problem with them dictating how their hardware/software phone solution works, walled garden and all. They built it all so they should get to decide how it's used, etc. If you don't like it, then don't buy an iphone or other Apple products.

    I personally stay very far away from all Apple products for this very reason. I'm quite happy on my android phone and linux desktop.

    I think that options should exist and the market place is clearly large enough. If you don't like how Apple runs AppeLand, then don't go to AppleLand.

    • Amen, android is plenty good enough to avoid paying the Apple tax and then having Tim Apple Cook filter the apps allowed to me- because of fear of viruses? Or something. I realize the rich and the wanna-appear rich are perfectly free to spend copiously to look 'with it' but I don't follow fads. Nobody can bitch about Apple restricting allowed software downloads, it's what you signed up for and are paying lots more for! Same with OS software, you are always fighting MS for control of your own machine when yo
    • Itâ(TM)s my computer! Not appleâ(TM)s.

      How can this forum one day lament âoeright to repairâ laws being lax and then the next day be âoewell, if apple doesnâ(TM)t want you to run an app, the obviously thatâ(TM)s just their imperative.â

      Itâ(TM)s my computer. Itâ(TM)s time to break up the App Store. Itâ(TM)s time to mandate that side loading of apps be allowed.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by thegarbz ( 1787294 )

        Itâ(TM)s my computer! Not appleâ(TM)s.

        You can do what you want with the hardware, but no one owes you a specific feature set in the software. If you are concerned there's a feature you're missing (such as the ability to install certain apps) then you made a poor purchasing decision.

        How can this forum one day lament âoeright to repairâ laws being lax and then the next day be âoewell, if apple doesnâ(TM)t want you to run an app, the obviously thatâ(TM)s just their imperative.â

        Because we understand the nuance that separates a PC (personal computer as a piece of general purpose hardware from a variety of vendors) from an iPhone (a vertically integrated Apple specific product designed by Apple running Apple's OS integrating with Apple's serv

  • What a jerk (Score:5, Insightful)

    by martinX ( 672498 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @07:40PM (#63092484)

    At least be honest, Zuck. You want unfettered access to iPhone users' personal and identifiable information in order to sell it and make money. Jewel in the crown, money in the bank since demographically the iPhone user crowd is higher up in the disposable income category [consumeraffairs.com].

    https://www.comscore.com/ita/P... [comscore.com]

    • right on target... Zuck wants into Apple world at no cost to him so he can mine my iPhone. Musk walked his criticism back today after a walkabout in Apple's HQ.
  • by HnT ( 306652 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @07:41PM (#63092486)

    The simple truth is that a lot of regular users simply should NOT be able to side load and install all sorts of shady software from very shady sources on some of their most personal devices. Love or hate the Apple AppStore, at least it has provided some form of keeping people from royally shooting themselves in the foot.
    Changing this is a very quick and slippery slope to unleashing the same lunacy we are seeing on the mom, pop and grandma PCs and android phones yall surely love to clean and reinstall.

    Now imagine the same with a device as personal and data rich as an iPhone or tablet. Bad enough millions of android phones are outdated, rooted and infected.

  • by MachineShedFred ( 621896 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @08:08PM (#63092528) Journal

    So a guy who just lost shitloads of money going down the VR rabbit hole to create an answer to a question nobody asked at the low price of billions of dollars and thousands of layoffs thinks that the most valuable company (and second most profitable, only behind Saudi Aramco) on the planet is 'not sustainable'.

    Yeah ok Zuck. Don't you have some faked demo of 2010s Nintendo Wii-quality graphics of VR jumping to show off? Or maybe a $1400 head mounted display that has less graphics horsepower than a $700 phone?

    I'm sure that there's many Apple executives lined up to take your advice on business sustainability. What a fucking clown.

  • by RegistrationIsDumb83 ( 6517138 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @09:35PM (#63092662)
    Users should be allowed to sideload... but no one should install Facebook.
  • by Embedded2004 ( 789698 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @10:31PM (#63092716)
    The app store and iPhone being locked down is a bad model for the industry wrt innovation. If on the PC, Linux or Windows had a similar model, it would be a disaster.

    PC ecosystem has flourished because it everyone is able to innovate in that space. If it was one company trying to dominate it all, it would be bad for the industry.

    To me, there is nothing else more important and I will never use an Apple product because of this. Even if they were free.

    Any concerns with Android I've seen such as privacy, are secondary in my view as you have the freedom to use other devices, apps, etc.
    • If on the PC, Linux or Windows had a similar model, it would be a disaster.

      Those platforms are a disaster. I don't even offer home computer support anymore because 99% of the time, it's people who clicked on something they shouldn't have, and their PC is effed. If you're a professional and you know what you're doing, you can lower your attack profile, but even there, you have to stay on your toes at all times. In contrast, over Thanksgiving, I watched my 7 yo nephew play on his iPad, and never once hesitated or winced when he clicked on things because he can't harm that device

    • PC ecosystem has flourished because it everyone is able to innovate in that space.

      I would argue iPhone's ecosystem is flourishing as well, so I you really need to think of a better comparison. I agree with you by the way. I'm an Android user exclusively because of the walled garden and I actually make use of the ability to side load. But it's worth noting that you and I are in an insane minority. Even on Android the overwhelming majority of devices never run apps outside of the Play Store walled garden.

  • by Shag ( 3737 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2022 @10:43PM (#63092728) Journal

    Apple exerted such control over the iPhone specifically because we already knew what it was like to have the mobile carriers calling all the shots. We'd seen it for a decade, and for half a decade when it came to smartphones. Per-minute costs for calls. Per-message costs for texts. Exorbitant per-megabyte costs for data. Jobs & Co. created a compelling device, spent a year and a half negotiating a deal with AT&T under which the carrier didn't control every little thing, and didn't load a bunch of bloatware crap onto the phone - and then made the first few generations available exclusively through AT&T.

    Did we trade one-company control over our phones for control by another company? Yes, except this time it was the company that actually made the phone, and the OS, and was committed to upgrading that OS.

    Does all one-company control suck, in one way or another? Sure, I guess. But one-company control by Apple at least sucks different, and it sucks way, way better than one-company control by the carrier.

  • 48.7 of Mobiles in the USA
    but only 28% worldwide ...

    This is USA problem

  • It isn't a corporation's job to watch out for the "best of people's interests", Mr. Z. A corporation's first job is to make money. One would think you would know that.

    If one Rs TFA, and is capable of enough critical-thinking skills to know how to set up a chess board, one sees that his biggest complaint is really the loss of tracking data that apps used to provide Meta, but which have since been choked off by Apple's updated privacy policies and controls. That tracking data, per the OP, equates to "billions

  • I do not want the trash app environment that is on Android. I want a walled garden of well built apps. Facebook can go back to building their own garbage phone with their apps.
  • "Zuckerberg also noted that Apple's policies differ from other tech giants, including Microsoft and Google, which allow apps to be sideloaded onto devices if they're inaccessible in app stores."

    I always discount competitor's claims when they start out with a lie.

    I load non-apple store programs onto my Macs all the time. To insinuate that you have to get a program from the App Store or that you are SOL is - as Winston Churchill once said, a big damn lie. Hell, it's less a problem than loading a progra

  • No one is forcing anyone to use Apple....

    • No one is forcing anyone to use Apple....

      They sure as hell are. My previous employer required it. Macbook and iPad, company-supplied, and one guy got fired for daring to transfer a PUBLISHED source file from his Macbook to a Linux machine.

  • FB may be about to find out that consumers love their iPhones more than they do FB. FB's demographic is losing younger users who see it as an old-person's medium, and FB works adequately in a browser. Apple has the upper hand here...

A committee takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom. -- Parkinson

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