Over the last few years, Apple has significantly changed its policy towards its more closed operating systems such as iOS and iPadOS, going to make them ever more flexible and close to a type of use that was previously unthinkable on a product from the Apple company.
However, it seems that the greatest revolution has not already taken place but, on the contrary, is just around the corner, according to what we learn from a new report from Bloomberg that heralds important news for iPhone and iPad. For the first time in its history, it seems that Apple is finally ready to make it possible to install third-party applications, to make free access to the NFC chip of its iPhones, to its APIs more private and even allow you to use alternative web rendering engines to WebKit.
The situation seems to have been unlocked by the entry into force of the Digital Markets Act, which is preparing to give an important turning point for all the scenarios in which a company can act as a gatekeeper on the devices and services it controls, limiting competition. With the DMA which will become effective as early as spring 2023, Apple finds itself once again – after the USB-C case – having to deal with the reality of a political and economic area that aims to dismantle every monopoly as much as possible in the hands of large tech companies, going to impose rules that maximize the free market.
Apple’s response – according to what is learned from Bloomberg – will be that of accept the change and then go to eliminate all the typical stakes of iOS and iPadOS (macOS is much less closed), starting with the possibility of allowing access systems to apps alternative to the App Store. This means a greater variety of applications for Apple’s mobile operating systems, since the limitations imposed by the company during the review phase of the apps offered on the App Store will no longer exist.
Of course that also translates into reduced revenues as regards those generated by in-app purchases and the purchase of the samehowever we have seen how the opening of Android has certainly not made a system like the Play Store collapse, even though Google has also made extremely disadvantageous not to be present on the official platform store. Apple will also probably aim for something similar, but the important thing is that it makes it possible to use an alternative route, if the developer or user does not necessarily want to resort to the App Store.
NOT JUST APPS: THE MAIN CHANGES COMING SOON
The effect of the Digital Markets Act will not only affect application management, but also other very important aspects of iOS and iPadOS. One of the main concerns Apple’s openness to using other web rendering engines on iPhone and iPadthus going to resolve the current situation which is paradoxical and which has led several developers (but also users) to request a change of route.
Until nowIn fact, all web browsers on iOS and iPadOS must use WebKit as the sole rendering enginefact that makes a Chrome or an Edge any of the real ones Safari skins. Third-party browsers behave just like the native browser and this means that any incompatibility of WebKit with a website or an element of the same cannot be overcome simply by switching browsers, since in essence they are all the same.
The opening towards new rendering engines will therefore allow users to use browsers based on solutions such as Blink – the Chromium engine – and any other alternative that will be proposed by the developers, which will finally make it possible to use the real Chrome on iOS/iPadOS and so on.
The other changes will affect access to Apple’s private APIs, so that more and more third-party applications and services can interface natively with many of the hardware and software elements of iOS/iPadOS, on a par with what Apple applications offer. For example it will be possible to have full access to the NFC chip in order to use it also for i payments by services other than Apple Payor even the ability to add third-party devices to the Find My network.
At the moment, the Bloomberg report does not provide us with specific details on the timing with which Apple will integrate these innovations on its devices, but it is highly probable that iOS and iPadOS 17 will be the first test bed in order to comply with the directives of the DMA, since the release of the next operating systems is expected for the autumn of 2023, or just close to the 6 months of adaptation granted from the moment the rules enter into force.
It cannot be excluded that some initial changes may already take place with the next beta versions of iOS/iPadOS 16, perhaps to start working on some less radical aspects and to present some solutions already in the pipeline at the beginning of 2023, but at the moment it is too early to know. In any case, the coming year will truly be a watershed between Apple’s past and future, especially when it comes to iPhone.