Apple’s Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA
It’s been 16 months since a DMA ruling allowed iOS developers like Google and Mozilla to use their own browser engines in the EU, so… where are they?
Open Web Advocacy (Hacker News):
Apple’s compliance did not start well. Faced with the genuine possibility of third-party browsers effectively powering web apps, Apple’s first instinct was to remove web app support entirely from iOS with no notice to either businesses or consumers. Under significant pressure from us and the Commission, Apple canceled their plan to sabotage web apps in the EU.
Both Google and Mozilla began porting their browser engines Blink and Gecko respectively to iOS. […] However there were significant issues with Apple’s contract and technical restrictions that made porting browser engines to iOS “as painful as possible” for browser vendors[…]
[…]
At the DMA workshop last week, we directly raised with Apple the primary blocker preventing third-party browser engines from shipping on iOS. Apple claimed that vendors like Google and Mozilla have “everything they need” to ship a browser engine in the EU and simply “have chosen not to do so”.
Apple has been fully aware of these barriers since at least June 2024, when we covered them in exhaustive detail. Multiple browser vendors have also discussed these same issues with Apple directly. The suggestion that Apple is unaware of the problems is not just ridiculous, it’s demonstrably false. Apple knows exactly what the issues are. It is simply refusing to address them.
Previously:
- Apple vs. the Law
- Apple’s DMA Compliance Criticized
- Apple to Defend Google Revenue Sharing Agreement
- iOS 17.4 Changes PWAs to Shortcuts in EU
- DMA Compliance: Alternative Browser Engines
1 Comment RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
I really liked this article.
> Apple gets an astonishing $20 billion a year from Google… accounting for 14-16 percent of Apple's annual operating profits. Safari's budget is… likely… $300-400 million per year. This means that Safari is one of Apple's most financially successful products and the highest margin product Apple has ever made.
I hadn't thought of it from a margins perspective.
> …browser vendors have to ship a whole new app just for the EU and tell their existing EU customers to download their new app and start building the user base from scratch.
Apple (and all big multinational corps) will only ever take malicious compliance. The admins who approved this are retarded for not seeing that nor remedying these problems much sooner.
