Apple Allowing Full Versions Of Browsers On iPhone

[Jonj1611]

Some good news if you want to use full browsers on an iPhone. I will certainly be moving to Firefox asap, the full version, not the webkit version

https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/25/2...ser-engines-eu

[Saracen999]

Some good news if you want to use full browsers on an iPhone. I will certainly be moving to Firefox asap, the full version, not the webkit version

https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/25/2...ser-engines-eu

You might be outta luck there, if you're in the UK. Apple do seem to be saying "in the EU" which, of course, the UK isn't. You may remember a bit of a hoo-haw about it a few years back.

It is true that the UK has similar legislation to the EU's DMA coming, but last time I looked (which was a while back) it was similar in principle and objectives but certainly not identical in operation AND .... not yet in force.

So it'll perhaps depend on how finicky Apple are - if they distinguish stricty between the EU and anybody else, we (UK) technically (and legally) are in "anybody else". ( *** see note) It'll then come down to exactly how the EUs DMA and (when it goes into effect) the UK version differ, as to whether we're treated the same.

Or, Apple might view it as Europe, rather than EU. If so, especially as similar provisions are coming here in the UK too, we might get 'lumped in'. They might, however, decide to wait for that to actually happen before applying the exception to their control to apply here too.

Given how Apple seem to be reacting to much of the DMA, with what lots of commentators (including some in the EU hierarchy) seem to regard as "malicious compliance", they do seem to be setting themselves up for a collossal fight, so I'm not holding my breath on them lumping the UK in with the EU if they don't have to (and as far as I can tell, they currently don't have to).

Of course, if you're in the EU .... good to go, it seems. For us lot here (UK) .... the jury is still out, as far as I know.


And at the risk of kicking the Brexit argument off (yet again) my personal view is yes, being in the EU has (and always did have) advantages, but no, even this wouldn't have changed my view on Brexit.


*** Note : As I understand it, the nature of Brexit is that SOME of the laws that were UK implementation of EU laws while we were "in" have been amended only in so far as wording needed to be changed to refer to the UK not the EU, but the provisions are utterly identical. But other such laws have been changed in ways the UK wanted but the EU didn't - i.e. the infamous "divergence" argument. And of course, new EU laws passed since Brexit aren't necessarily mirrored here at all, or if they are, not always identical in effect.

In other words, on some things provisions are identical, on others they're similar but not identical, and in a third category, they're completely different, or only exist at all in one jurisdiction or the other.

[kompukare]

I mostly hope that anything the EC proposes has the power of a full Directive.

As the previous thing about phone chargers was, to use some antiquated terminology, a Gentleman's Agreement. And the Commission quickly found out that the cult which Jobs built in Cupertino are anything but Gentlemen...

So AFAIR the USB C proposal for phone chargers will be full directive, so unless that fruity company wants to lose 100s of million customers they will have to respect it.
On the specifics of this, even if the UK had fully implemented DMA then Apple being Apple and no gentlemen might wiggle out of it figuring - correctly - that the post B-word UK has little clout.

I do wish that Apple would do a Microsoft and 'borrow' Google's Chromium as Safari is trouble in every form - although then Apple might be desperate enough for sales that they want anyone doing any websites to buy some fruity kit as that is now the only way to run Safari.