Opening the iOS ecosystem to competition would harm security and privacy, company says
Analysis Apple, besieged by regulators and rivals challenging its exclusive control over its iOS App Store, has published a 31-page defense of its ostensibly benevolent monopoly that warns of disastrous consequences if Cupertino is forced to allow competition. “[S]ome are demanding that Apple support the distribution of apps outside of the App Store, through direct downloads or third-party app stores, a process also referred to as ‘sideloading,'” Apple says in its treatise, “Building a Trusted Ecosystem for Millions of Apps, A threat analysis of sideloading.” [ PDF] “Supporting sideloading through direct downloads and third-party app stores would cripple the privacy and security protections that have made iPhone so secure, and expose users to serious security risks.” This is the second time in the past few months that Apple has published a lengthy defense of its highly profitable business model [ PDF]. In June, Apple CEO Tim Cook delivered a similar message remotely to the Viva Technology conference in Paris, France, out of concern that the EU’s proposed Digital Marketers Act would force Apple to support third-party app stores and user-directed app installation. The following week, Timothy Powderly, Apple senior director of government affairs for the Americas, sent a letter to US lawmakers [ PDF] raising similar concerns about legislation that would require app store competition and mandate support for sideloading. There’s a major problem with Apple’s argument, however: Apple uses the term “sideloading” to refer both to third-party app stores and to direct app installation, suggesting the equivalency of two scenarios that are not the same. “Sideloading” is generally defined as apps installed by users on a device without the involvement of a trusted intermediary that performs some oversight function. As Microsoft puts it, “Sideloading apps is when you install apps that aren’t from an official source, such as the Microsoft store.” So downloading an iOS app from someone’s website and installing it is not the same as downloading an iOS app from, say, an app store operated by Google, Epic Games, or Microsoft.
