Apple and the DMA

There is a lot going on right now with Apple and their various attempts to dodge the DMA or to still get some money out of it. Some of their reasoning is sound, some is justifiable, some is just ridiculous.

Here is the thing - I do not care much about the DMA. I know I really should. And in theory I fully support the idea behind it. But in practice I do not want a third party App Store. After Facebooks demonstration and the garbage I have seen people sideload ("clicker" cheats for free to play games bundled with malware...) I still anticipate this to be a disaster. And for some users I have to support it, so it impacts me to a certain degree even when not using any of the new options myself. Do not take this as an "Apples App Store is perfect", we all know it is not, but it is a barrier at least. I do not want an alternative browser, especially with the choices being either chromium based - it already has a too significant market share - or one pushing an "AI" to the browser.

Yesterday Apple confirmed they will break PWAs. I tried using PWAs. It was horrible, none really worked as expected or provided a good user experience. I tried them on both iOS and Android. But there was a promising trend and things seemed to improve. While there were some questionable steps taken so far, this is the headline that really irritated me. If it is a technical limitation and you need more time just say it. But that is not what they said. This is a petty fight against regulations on the back of users.

I am not using any PWAs. I have a total of five apps but the stock iOS ones I use. One could be replaced by using a web interface. Two might work well as a PWA. This news does not really have any direct impact on me. Yet I found myself looking at Samsungs website for a ZFold 5. I am by far not a fan, but Apple products work for me and play nicely with each other. Yet for some (not very logical) reason I am closer than ever to give up the convenience of the Apple ecosystem.