Apple may be forced to open a third-party app store.

Apple may be forced to open a third-party app store.

Apple may be forced to open a third-party app store. The security of iPhone is based on using its own App Store software. Now that this foundation has been broken, Apple will be forced to open a third-party app store.

Apple will be forced to open a third-party app store 1. Compared with Android, the biggest advantage of iOS is the App Store App Store.

Unlike the Android application market, the review standards of the App Store are more stringent. If the security of the software does not meet the standards of the App Store, it cannot be put on the shelves, and Apple does not allow users to download the application software by other means. A set of combination boxing makes the application on the APP Store much safer and easier to use than the Android side. This is also one of the factors that netizens say that "iPhone is smoother and easier to use than Android".

Recently, however, the US Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Open Market Act with 2 1 for and 1 against, which will force Apple to allow users to install applications from outside the App Store.

However, some foreign netizens do not seem to appreciate this bill. They believe that opening up the application market may lead to more and more security vulnerabilities in iOS, and may even damage the privacy of users. It is foreseeable that if this bill is successfully implemented in the future, not only Apple, but also the entire application market may face tremendous changes.

Why are we so malicious to the APP Store?

In fact, since the first two years, the US Senate Judiciary Committee has repeatedly proposed a number of bills around the Apple App Store. In the final analysis, it is all for anti-monopoly purposes. After all, the APP Store is not like Android. When consumers buy some virtual products in the software, they must complete the payment through the payment interface provided by App Store. Among them, Apple needs to draw 30% of the "Apple tax", so on some platforms, iOS users need to pay more than Android users.

Left Apple and Right Android

In addition to consumers, software developers will also be affected by the "Apple tax". In order to ensure their own income, we can only choose to raise prices, but the upward adjustment of related prices will affect the loyalty of users in some cases, thus falling into a vicious circle. According to relevant data, in terms of application revenue, the number of users only accounts for one-seventh of Apple's Android, but the profit is 4.38 times that of the Android market. This is obviously unreasonable.

Let's briefly introduce why Apple and Android are different. Google's Android system is open to all mobile phone manufacturers and extremely fragmented. In addition, Google does not have its own hardware ecosystem and needs to rely on other mobile phone manufacturers to expand the scale of Android phones. So Google's control over the software and hardware ecosystem is very weak. In other words, Android phones developed by major manufacturers are their own private property and have little to do with Google. Naturally, Google can't control the app store like Apple.

Apple's software ecosystem from hardware to iOS operating system is its own private property, using its own operating system and hardware, which is different from Google.

Apple's closed and unified system experience ensures its high brand premium and purer and safer user experience, which is an invisible premium. So from this perspective, Apple claims that it can only download software through the App Store, in order to ensure the safety of users and better experience itself. Therefore, even if it is not from the perspective of profit, it will not let the third-party app store destroy the quality and security of the' application' of the Apple App Store.

But this is not a reason to prevent users from having the right to choose. Consumers should have the ownership and control of the mobile phone after spending money on the iPhone. In other words, iPhone users can accept Apple's services, use the APP Store and pay the "Apple Tax". Once users find a better application platform, they also have the right to choose to accept services from other platforms.

Who will benefit from third-party applications accessing iOS?

From the previous article, it seems that opening the third-party application platform is a thing that does more harm than good for Apple. Does this mean that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages for ordinary consumers? Actually, it's not like this. I believe that readers who have used Android phones should know that there are still a lot of junk software on the market. Some unscrupulous developers even add some malicious code to the software, or quietly transfer some content to their own servers. These behaviors are subtle to ordinary users, and personal information may be leaked or even affect property safety.

For example, in the early years, there was a software called Bitui WeChat avatar, which was widely circulated among iPhone users. This WeChat dual-open application, which has not been audited by App Store, has been greatly modified on the basis of WeChat, and even the code is bundled with Alipay's SDK, which can be used to call Alipay's fast payment function. After the analysis of network packet capture, this application will also push some information about service charges to the mobile phone. Although the application is not vulnerable to malicious attacks during testing, many high-risk interfaces remain in the application. Once the cracker has other ideas, even the WeChat account password can be obtained at will.

Even if you think that some applications have no risk of password leakage at all, you may add some code to make you a piece of meat on the chopping block inadvertently.

Therefore, once Apple opens its third-party application platform, countless developers will make billions of ecological flows for Bai Piao Apple. They can even put a cut version of the App on the app Store. If you want to experience the full version, please go to official website to download it, or don't put it on the App Store at all. Anyway, they can install through a third-party platform. It is not regulated by Apple and does not need to pay Apple. I believe most developers dream of doing this.

However, those software developers who abide by the rules and regulations have become cannon fodder. Although they can bypass the apple tax, it is not a good thing. After all, there are too many "malicious" netizens on the Internet, and they may even crack the app that developers have worked so hard to write, and some app development teams may lose their jobs. This kind of operation appeared in the Android market in the early years, and many users are not surprised. It is precisely because so many developers would rather pay a 30% Apple tax than live in fear in the Android market.

So for us ordinary consumers, this may not be a good sign. I believe that most users who buy iPhone want "stability, fewer bugs and long life". If Apple is exactly the same as Android in this respect, then it is really like Cook said, "You might as well buy an Android phone."

In addition, in the past two years, APP Store has repeatedly exposed many violations such as false advertisements, unfair competition, and violation of developer agreements. According to market research firm Appfigures, some suspected fraudulent apps defrauded consumers of about $48 million during their shelf life, and some even induced consumers to download extra paid software with infected slogans.

Therefore, the APP Store is not as safe as the "castle" we imagined. It also has a certain amount of malware. Once Apple allows users to download applications on third-party platforms, this situation will only get worse.

Is the "Iron Wall" iOS still safe?

There are only two ways in front of Apple today. One is to choose not to pay the bill and pay a sky-high fine. The other is to choose to compromise and open a third-party application store. Although it seems that Apple would rather continue to pay fines than open third-party application platforms, there have been more and more judgment bills about the APP Store in recent years, and no one knows whether Apple can withstand this pressure in the future.

If Apple is really open, how to ensure the quality of the APP and how to avoid the risks brought by some junk apps? Perhaps at this point, Apple can learn from Android vendors. In the face of a mixed application market, Android manufacturers once launched the "installation package risk detection" function. When a user installs an application through a third-party channel, the system will scan the installation package safely, remind the user of the potential risks of the software in time when necessary, and even directly prohibit the installation.

In addition, Apple may further increase its access control over the APP. In the version of iOS 15.2, the iPhone introduced a function called App Privacy Report, which can list in detail which permissions the app used and which network nodes it visited. The launch of this feature may also be related to Apple's recent "bad news".

Of course, we should also warn our friends and elders (including ourselves) to avoid installing apps through these stores. As long as you can find the same APP on the app Store, there is no need to take risks. Even if you accidentally install the application, don't panic too much. Thanks to the sandbox mechanism of iOS, as long as it is not trusted in the settings, it will not run and will not have any impact.

In any case, no matter whether we use Android or iPhone, don't try to install an app of unknown origin. These developers are always smarter than you.

Apple will be forced to open third-party app stores. 2 Apple's iPhone is one of the safest smartphones at present, mainly because Apple has launched the app store and has strict specifications for the software in this App Store; In contrast, Android phones can download software from any software store or even web pages, but the security of this method is relatively low.

Recently, the US Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill with 2 1 vote in favor and 1 vote against, which will force Apple to allow users to install applications from outside the App Store; This means that the iPhone may no longer be safe. After all, the quality of third-party software can't be as safe as App Store.

The security of iPhone is based on using its own App Store software. Now that this foundation has been broken, Apple may need to find other ways to maintain the security of the iPhone. However, I believe that the quality of third-party software may be uneven. Without a dedicated App Store, it is difficult for Apple to limit the development specifications of third-party software.

In fact, the current iPhone is also allowed to install third-party software, but it is relatively difficult. After all, it is not downloaded directly from the software; In addition, it is found that the fluency and stability of some third-party software are much lower than that of App Store software, and it is almost difficult to pass the official review of App Store.

Of course, opening up third-party applications also has benefits-it can give developers more choices and avoid Apple's exclusive draw. However, from the software market on Android smartphones, Apple's draw is relatively low, and some Android software markets are even twice as high as Apple's App Store. It can be seen that third-party software stores are not conscience.

Based on the huge number of users of iOS, any software store can get very high profits, which is a revenue channel that many companies want to obtain; However, before that, the App Store hindered the participation of other software stores. Now that Apple has "let go", perhaps many software stores will be born in the future, which is expected to become a strong opponent of the App Store.

With the introduction of third-party applications, the security of iPhone will naturally decrease, so will you still choose an unsafe iPhone?

Apple may be forced to open a third-party app store. In recent years, Apple has opened third-party payment interfaces in South Korea and the Netherlands because of antitrust lawsuits, but these will not have a big impact on Apple.

Recently, a new bill in the United States can be said to have completely hit Apple's soft spot. This anti-monopoly law stipulates that Apple must turn on the side loading function, allowing users to download and install applications outside the App Store.

Before the meeting, Tim Powderly, Apple's director of government affairs in the Americas, wrote to the committee members urging them to veto the bill. And reiterated the privacy and security arguments that Apple executives have repeatedly put forward about the dangers of side loading.

If the iPhone device allows lateral loading of applications, then some bad guys will guide users to download some malicious software or fraudulent applications among iPhone users. Even ordinary applications, without Apple's management, may violate users' privacy.

For Apple, if this legislation confirms that the iPhone is allowed to freely install applications like Android, then Apple's main security and privacy will no longer exist.

Apple refused to pass, thinking that side-loading would bring privacy and security risks to customers. Some bad elements can evade Apple's privacy and security protection by distributing applications without critical privacy and security checks, which will make malware, fraud and data crawling rampant.