Hell, no. If there were “true competition,” Apple would sell out and move to a new industry entirely.
Comment on Through gritted teeth, Apple and Google allow alternative app stores in Japan
No_Ones_Slick_Like_Gaston@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
Oh true competition. Nice.
It would be amazing knowing if as a tourist one can have access to a different browser in iPhone or sideload crazy apps that block ads without questioning.
jerkface@lemmy.ca 6 hours ago
_cryptagion@anarchist.nexus 14 hours ago
Uh, well you can already have a different browser. I know Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and Brave are all on iOS. Brave has built in adblocking, but AdGuard is also available if you want to block ads in Safari. I’m in North America, but I assume they are available worldwide.
vinnymac@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
I wouldn’t call them different browsers, more like skins or “chrome”. All iOS browsers are built on Apple WebKit. This essentially makes all of the browsers you listed reskinned versions of Safari.
Sure they may have some clever UI, accessibility, or platform specific functionality. But they are nothing like any of those browsers on other operating systems.
_cryptagion@anarchist.nexus 31 minutes ago
Oh I did not know that.
NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
They still all use the safari engine though, unless something has changed and I missed it.
neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 hours ago
No, and it’s annoying because Safari’s extensions I’ll let you install ad blockers, but they won’t work on Firefox even though it’s still Safari
NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
If it’s anything like the EU setup, it’s based off of where your iCloud account is based out of. At least I think that was what it was last time I went looking.
Meron35@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Nope, Apple is way more anal than that.
You need to have an iCloud account registered in the EU/Japan, AND be physically located in EU/Japan.
Changing the iCloud account region requires you to contact Apple, surrendering all of your current account balance, and providing them with an EU/Japan billing method + address. Users have also reported mixed results with VPNs in getting around the physical location requirement.
About alternative app distribution - Apple Support - support.apple.com/en-us/118110
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 4 hours ago
Still, sounds like opening the floodgates.