Apple currently has a real monopoly on web browsers that can be used on iPhone and iPad. But it could move thanks to a new law spent in Japan.
Does the reign of Safari are coming to an end? While Apple imposes drastic conditions on all web browser developers on iPhone and iPad, Japan intends to play the impediments of going in circles with strict legislation.
The ” Competition law in the field of mobile software»Will force the manufacturer to loosen the screw a little on the mobile browser market by next December, noteThe Verge.
An armored law
Currently, Chrome, Firefox, Opera and all other software of its kind are forced to rest on the webkit rendering engine to offer their software on iPhone and iPad. To put it differently, all browsers on iOS and iPados are nothing more than Safari with a slightly different layer of paint.
If Digital Markets Act in Europe was supposed to force Apple to let go of the ballast on the issue, the conditions imposed by Apple are so drastic that few developers and developers have the means to answer them. It is precisely to fight against this “malicious complianceThat Japan has adopted its law.
The latter prohibits manufacturers “impose unreasonable technical restrictions»Or«excessive financial charges to application suppliers for the adoption of alternative rendering engines ».
Without giving any specific example, the law encompasses all cases where an exclusion of such applications could occur according to “A certain degree of probability». What have a room for maneuver to counter any technical-legal magouilles on the part of Apple.
Ricochets all over the world?
In addition to obliging the opening of iOS and iPados to alternative rendering engines, Apple will have to ensure that the latter have an equivalent access to that of Safari with system underlaying. What create real alternatives to Apple browser with advanced functions.
To go further
iOS could become “an Android clone” for Apple: everything is due to a thread
Nothing says that Apple will authorize the rest of the world to enjoy these new features, however. But Japanese law could inspire the rest of the world to impose similar restrictions, since the technical work of compliance will have already been done. If you are not close to seeing real versions of Firefox or Chrome on iPhone right away, the breach is open and it may well be that everyone is rushing into it, including the native country of the firm.
