Apple’s lock on iPhone browser engines gets a December deadline
Apple’s lock on iPhone browser engines gets a December deadline
Apple’s lock on iPhone browser engines may be lifted by December, according to Japan’s Smartphone Act guidelines.
The guidelines specify that Apple cannot enforce alternative rules that make it difficult for app providers to adopt third-party browser engines.
Restrictions on Chrome and its Blink engine are expected to be lifted, allowing the browser to come to iOS.
The new guidelines aim to prevent Apple from imposing “unreasonable technical restrictions” on app providers and placing excessive financial burdens on them.
Japan doesn’t want Apple to give it the EU treatment.
We might finally see the first iPhone browsers built on top of third-party engines now that Japanese regulators have taken up the issue.
Apple’s malicious compliance in the EU has so far prevented Chrome, and its Blink engine, for example, from coming to iOS, but recently published guidelines related to Japan’s Smartphone Act could change that. Not only do they set a December deadline for restrictions to be lifted, but also specify that Apple can’t enforce alternative rules that make it difficult to adopt alternatives to the company’s own WebKit browser engine.
According to a translation provided by the Open Web Advocacy organization, the guidelines prevent Apple from doing the following:
“Imposing unreasonable technical restrictions on individual app providers while allowing them to adopt alternative browser engines, placing excessive financial burdens on individual app providers for adopting alternative browser engines, and steering smartphone users away from using individual software that incorporates alternative browser engines.”
Q. What is the deadline for Apple’s restrictions on iPhone browser engines?
A. December
Q. Why did Japanese regulators take up the issue of iPhone browser engines?
A. To prevent Apple from giving it the EU treatment and to allow third-party browsers to be adopted.
Q. What was previously prevented by Apple’s compliance in the EU?
A. The adoption of Chrome and its Blink engine on iOS.
Q. What are the guidelines set by Japan’s Smartphone Act regarding iPhone browser engines?
A. They prevent Apple from imposing unreasonable technical restrictions, excessive financial burdens, and steering users away from alternative software.
Q. What is the Open Web Advocacy organization’s role in this matter?
A. To provide a translation of the guidelines related to Japan’s Smartphone Act.
Q. Why did Apple’s compliance in the EU prevent Chrome and Blink from coming to iOS?
A. Due to Apple’s malicious compliance, which set restrictions that made it difficult for alternative browsers to be adopted.
Q. What is the significance of the December deadline?
A. It marks a change in Apple’s stance on iPhone browser engines, potentially allowing third-party browsers to be adopted.
Q. How do the guidelines affect Apple’s control over WebKit browser engine?
A. They prevent Apple from enforcing rules that make it difficult for alternative browser engines to be adopted.
Q. What is the potential outcome of these new guidelines?
A. The adoption of first iPhone browsers built on top of third-party engines, potentially changing the iOS landscape.
Q. Why did Japan not want Apple to give it the EU treatment?
A. To prevent Apple from imposing similar restrictions that were previously in place in the EU.
