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Edsel

macrumors 6502a
Mar 18, 2010
659
1,254
Over There
Imagine if Congress were to require this of vehicle manufacturers. The consumer choses their tire brands and style, shock-absorber brand, steering wheel brand, type of seats, headlight choice, music system....
 

mrex

macrumors 68040
Jul 16, 2014
3,458
1,527
europe
Imagine if Congress were to require this of vehicle manufacturers. The consumer choses their tire brands and style, shock-absorber brand, steering wheel brand, type of seats, headlight choice, music system....

Exactly! Think about buying a car with certain tires (preinstalled tires) that cannot be removed at the moment. And if you want to change them because you are not going to use them anyway, you need to buy another sets of tires (install new tires and put those preinstalled tires in your carage). Would you just rather have bought the tires you wish than forced to get preinstalled tires and after that buy new ones? Same goes with other parts… rather choosing the parts with a seller you are forced to get a certain parts and after buying them you are able to ”upgrade” your car.

Analogy: preinstalled apps and only after them installed you are able to choose the right apps.
 

vipergts2207

macrumors 601
Apr 7, 2009
4,409
9,876
Columbus, OH
Imagine if Congress were to require this of vehicle manufacturers. The consumer choses their tire brands and style, shock-absorber brand, steering wheel brand, type of seats, headlight choice, music system....
Imagine if any automakers were actually a monopoly or duopoly.
 
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djphat2000

macrumors 65816
Jun 30, 2012
1,091
1,130
I’d rather have this than have a “blank” iPhone and need to download each app.
And if Apple had to do this then surely the other platforms would as well.

basically Congress doesn’t need to but it’s head into things this deep.
I'd rather Apple provide a blank phone. Not even an OS. No lighting or USB-anything ports. And over charge for it. go do whatever you want folks. Here is the iPhone you always wanted.
 

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,573
6,086
So what do you do if there are hundreds competing apps? I mean, this is a law that might be on the books for decades.

I just searched for browser in the Norwegian store and I stopped after 20. Should the iPhone has tens of browsers installed by the default and all users must choose between them?

It is the same with notes-app or payment apps.

I'm fairly certain this has already been done in some European country with web browsers. As I recall, the law is that when setting up a computer, it should prompt the user to pick from the five most popular browsers, with an option to skip where it just picks at random... so at the time that I heard about this, it offered IE, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera when setting up Windows 7.

I'd say the law just says X options need to be provided, with it being left up to the company to pick the options that are given + they have to document how they arrived at those options. Organizations or individuals that make competing apps should be able to request that they become one of the options that can be chosen, and take it to court if the company can't give a good explanation for why they're excluded, but it should be pretty straight forward... pick the ones with the most marketshare.

I will say something very sinister that Apple is doing that I haven't seen any legal action focused on yet is the WebKit requirement for browsers on iOS. That gives Apple a colossal amount of power to dictate what kinds of web apps are created. We end up seeing web apps which could function everywhere but iOS just not get developed at all. We also end up with a lot of major vulnerabilities which should have workarounds (IE, use a browser with a different engine and so doesn't have the issue), but don't because all browsers are required to just be wrappers around WebKit.
 
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Apple of my eye

macrumors regular
Apr 21, 2004
119
83
Fresno, Ca
Imagine if Congress were to require this of vehicle manufacturers. The consumer choses their tire brands and style, shock-absorber brand, steering wheel brand, type of seats, headlight choice, music system....
Imagine only being able to buy the tires, shocks, etc from the dealer in perpetuity after you buy the car, a la App Store.
 

djphat2000

macrumors 65816
Jun 30, 2012
1,091
1,130
One difference, back in the day there was a single computer per household if you were lucky enough. Nowadays, there is a phone for nearly every pre-teen and older in a home. In the 90's there were just under 100 million house holds in the US. In 2020 the estimated number of smart phones in the US is 294.15 million.

Another difference. I could buy or download software from anywhere and install it on my PC...Not so much on my iPhone.
And we can choose to not purchase an iPhone because there are other choices from other manufactures and OS's to pick from.

What kills me in this entire argument is that back in 1996-97 no one cared much about Apple cause they didn't have anything the majority of people really cared about. Then comes along the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, iPad and so on. They got successful and grew the way you would want any company to do. Each time they came out with something it was a major risk. At any time they could have failed so bad that they could have gone away. But, they made it and are now a multi trillion dollar company. And for that, the government wants to break them up, call them monopolists and that makes absolutely no freaking sense to me. They didn't push anyone out of any market. They beat them fair and square. EVERYONE wanted a "smart" phone with physical buttons. Apple said, nah we think you might prefer to just use this touch screen for everything, no buttons except this home button, volume and power. No one else did this cause it was not the "way" at that time. It worked, and sold out.

I'm sorry, but this is BS man. It's not like they forced anyone to buy anything they didn't want or they needed and overcharged or any anti-competitive whatever's. They offered another option, another way to do something. They are successful at it. Not to mention, they are not even trying to outsell the cheapest phones on the market. They want to be the premier, best, whatever high end you want to call it. They don't sell $100 phones, or cheap anythings. They let others have that all day every day. If they wanted to be a monopoly, they would sell phones for FREE and make it so you couldn't put anything on it except Apple made software.

End of rant.
 
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I7guy

macrumors Nehalem
Nov 30, 2013
34,345
24,091
Gotta be in it to win it
useless to install apps never been used - rather better letting the customer choose from the beginning. Also, many apps cant be deleted.
I use most Apple apps. I don’t want to install those since I use them. Good example of government taking away my freedom of choice.

Additionally you gonna delete the phone app? Tough to call emergency services.
 

hypertoast

macrumors regular
Nov 29, 2017
104
63
Its super interesting to see how the initial phone setup experience would diminish/ upset so many users. Really? The one time setup (selecting default app vs a different one) is too much to handle?

I am sure if Apple organically choose to provide this option (without any regulators), no one would raise voice.

This is about simply providing choice to users who need it, not for the general fanboys/ masses who will accept the default apps as is.

Sure, regulators could work on better things than this... iff the manufacturers had provided the choice from before, this would not have come up.

People need to grow up and be mature on their non-sensical comments. Jeez.

SMH
 

I7guy

macrumors Nehalem
Nov 30, 2013
34,345
24,091
Gotta be in it to win it
Its super interesting to see how the initial phone setup experience would diminish/ upset so many users. Really? The one time setup (selecting default app vs a different one) is too much to handle?

I am sure if Apple organically choose to provide this option (without any regulators), no one would raise voice.

This is about simply providing choice to users who need it, not for the general fanboys/ masses who will accept the default apps as is.

Sure, regulators could work on better things than this... iff the manufacturers had provided the choice from before, this would not have come up.

People need to grow up and be mature on their non-sensical comments. Jeez.

SMH
Your ”right” to “chastise“ posters isn’t greater than the right of posters to state their preferences...imo.
 

I7guy

macrumors Nehalem
Nov 30, 2013
34,345
24,091
Gotta be in it to win it
[…].

I will say something very sinister that Apple is doing that I haven't seen any legal action focused on yet is the WebKit requirement for browsers on iOS. That gives Apple a colossal amount of power to dictate what kinds of web apps are created. We end up seeing web apps which could function everywhere but iOS just not get developed at all. We also end up with a lot of major vulnerabilities which should have workarounds (IE, use a browser with a different engine and so doesn't have the issue), but don't because all browsers are required to just be wrappers around WebKit.
So it’s better to have multiple browsers with multiple vulnerabilities, waiting for the devs to fix the vulnerabilities? Don’t think that’s a better system at all.
 

Ethosik

Contributor
Oct 21, 2009
7,842
6,769
Somehow, apple making people dumb is ok, but government making people dumb is not ok. Double standard as always. Also, this legislation would have clauses that define basic functionality of a device to exempt certain apps.

Either way, duopoly is duopoly. As powerful as Microsoft couldn’t break into this. Linux never got much traction in the smartphone market despite its absolute openness. Government intervention is ok. But the way it works now seems not optimal. We

And how does removing first party apps pre-installed solve the duopoly issue?
 

Nuno Lopes

macrumors 65816
Sep 6, 2011
1,273
1,158
Lisbon, Portugal
Sorry for the confusion. I'm not saying Epic and Pandora are anti-profits. I'm explaining motives for these regulations

Well having different people with different if not opposing views in Congress or Parliament is what democracy is all about. I guess only in countries like China and Russia people are forced not to have one …


Not everything needs to be decided by government. You mentioned how Facebook, TikTok, and others have been good for Apple. Likewise, Apple has been good for them. Let them work it out themselves. Private negotiations

True. Not everything is decided by the Gov. Has for them working out by themselves … that is what happens usually. Sometimes they take each other to courts … well quite a lot of times actually.

It seams that both parties have good claims. When they cannot the judicial system is the first fence … the second is the Anti Trust committee. Yet the later does not care for either but making sure that consumer are being given fair options. Including the ability to access say Fortnite or xCLoud on their phone … or whatever in a free market.

You see, such conditioning did not exist when people bought their phones … just a vague and general one. Consumers need to be protected by that.

You see, I am an Apple user and to be honest find it annoying this Pope like attitude of TC … “we need to protect our customer and users” … I personally don’t need his protection do you? All I need is for them to deliver what I payed for and I did not pay for protection of this kind.

By the way … all these big tech companies share more or less the same attitude … “we need to protect our users”. Hence Anti Trust watch dogs make a lot of sense.
 

H2SO4

macrumors 603
Nov 4, 2008
5,686
6,958
And we can choose to not purchase an iPhone because there are other choices from other manufactures and OS's to pick from.

What kills me in this entire argument is that back in 1996-97 no one cared much about Apple cause they didn't have anything the majority of people really cared about. Then comes along the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, iPad and so on. They got successful and grew the way you would want any company to do. Each time they came out with something it was a major risk. At any time they could have failed so bad that they could have gone away. But, they made it and are now a multi trillion dollar company. And for that, the government wants to break them up, call them monopolists and that makes absolutely no freaking sense to me. They didn't push anyone out of any market. They beat them fair and square. EVERYONE wanted a "smart" phone with physical buttons. Apple said, nah we think you might prefer to just use this touch screen for everything, no buttons except this home button, volume and power. No one else did this cause it was not the "way" at that time. It worked, and sold out.

I'm sorry, but this is BS man. It's not like they forced anyone to buy anything they didn't want or they needed and overcharged or any anti-competitive whatever's. They offered another option, another way to do something. They are successful at it. Not to mention, they are not even trying to outsell the cheapest phones on the market. They want to be the premier, best, whatever high end you want to call it. They don't sell $100 phones, or cheap anythings. They let others have that all day every day. If they wanted to be a monopoly, they would sell phones for FREE and make it so you couldn't put anything on it except Apple made software.

End of rant.
If the law is passed, no one is forcing you to buy the iphone then either.
 

ravenstar

macrumors 6502
Jan 12, 2005
266
505
Its super interesting to see how the initial phone setup experience would diminish/ upset so many users. Really? The one time setup (selecting default app vs a different one) is too much to handle?
Hang out here much? Having to sift through hundreds of apps just to start using your phone would certainly inconvenience everyone and evoke much vitriol on this forum. (Why can't I just start using my phone?)
 
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gregmancuso

macrumors 6502
Nov 1, 2014
408
512
Apple shouldn’t put its own apps in its own OS. Maybe Apple should not put it’s own OS on its own hardware next?

Microsoft should also just provide the OS. Shouldn’t provide a single app inside. Not even Settings. And hey, taskbar can be changed with software too, right? So there shouldn’t be a taskbar too, since that will hurt developers who earn their living with alternative taskbars.

On that note, there should be no default wallpaper and default sounds. That would infringe upon the rights of sound-makers. Everyone should have an equal right to being the default sound on the OS.

The only one with no choice in the matter is the consumer. No one cares what consumers want on their devices.

Probably the government should make a law that no company would indulge in more than 1 business. Make laptops? Don’t you dare make anything else, don’t you dare create an ecosystem of hardware and software because then we will have anti-trust against you.
Yes, let's make the "Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Rule" and "The Equalization of Opportunity Bill" real-life.
 
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duffman9000

macrumors 68020
Sep 7, 2003
2,327
8,082
Deep in the Depths of CA
iOS users should have a class action lawsuit on the US government for trying to ruin the OS that we bought into. That we invested our time and money into. That we signed up for. It is none of their business to try and ruin our platform like this. We bought into this platform because Apple has control over it. A platform that Apple has no control is not what we want. That means we would need a refund on the products we purchased and also compensation for the time we spent learning and adapting to this platform.
It's true. Apple's business is having a locked down OS where it's difficult to install unsigned apps. That's the measure of control that we gave up as iOS users. Don't like it? Use Android.

Apple should mimic consoles. Licensing fee on every sale. Doesn't matter where you bought the app. Doesn't matter the payment processor.
 

Tech198

Cancelled
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,151
If we have such a strong stance towards pre-installed apps that we hate no matter, then we should not be buying a Mac either then... or allow the same to happen

I just assume the same reasons apply on iOS. "You can't delete because it's tightly ingratiate into the OS/iOS."

By the way were going, the legislation wants everyone to be like Android... It's not about choice anymore, when your not allowing creators like Apple's pre-installed apps, to do their own thing, and always favoring the other side either.. if a user deices to delete Messages, for example, 99% chance is your gotta put it back anyway..

Having options is good, but not where is doesn't make sense.
 
Last edited:

Unregistered 4U

macrumors G4
Jul 22, 2002
10,224
8,212
Has Bloomberg ever retracted their fabricated story of the Big Hack? :) Bloomberg knows what gets hits and they know that at this time, they don’t even have to be accurate anymore LOL
 

Unregistered 4U

macrumors G4
Jul 22, 2002
10,224
8,212
Anti-trust laws have no regard as to what the specific product is. And correct me if I'm wrong, but last I checked telephone networks aren't a natural resource either.
Nope, but AT&T purchased other telecommunications companies to strengthen their monopoly and that’s what got them into hot water. Now that I think of it, I can actually see the similarities now because Apple did[/] buy up all those other smartphone OS vendors in the same way… so yeah, I get the comparison.

/s
 

Michael Scrip

macrumors 604
Mar 4, 2011
7,932
12,489
NC
This is about simply providing choice to users who need it, not for the general fanboys/masses who will accept the default apps as is.

But there's already a choice... there's an entire freakin' app store with a million apps!

If you don't like Apple's Notes app... you can choose to download Evernote or OneNote.

If you don't like Apple's Podcast app... you can choose to download Overcast or PocketCasts.

If you don't like Apple's Calendar app... you can choose to download Fantastical or Outlook.

If you don't like Apple Maps... you can choose to download Google Maps or Waze.

But I don't see why the Government should force Apple to provide a popup to choose all these apps during setup.
 
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