I’ve got a love-hate relationship with my iPhone. I appreciate the technology, the attention to detail of Apple in iOS and the variety of applications developers make. Yet I hate the walled garden of Apple, which restricts the way I use my iPhone every day. I can not change my default browser. I’m pushed into a loweriOS email client any time I click an email address, and the strict Ui constraints of Apple mean that the configuration and device functionality are limited to Androids.

Rumors suggest that Apple weighs up some of these drawbacks on iOS 14. The upgrade could be the perfect opportunity for Apple to lower its walls a little as authorities in the US and Europe continue to ask questions about how Apple regulates its mobile platform.

Bloomberg yesterday confirmed that Apple thinks that applications like Chrome or Gmail can be adjusted to iOS 14 by default. It’s quite a small change, but one that would have a big impact on Apple’s built-in app developers. Linux, Android, and macOS are all common for third-party apps, but iOS is a bottom line for over a decade. Over the last ten years, rivals have created increasingly rich email clients that incorporate robust calendar features that can also be seen in more extendable mobile browsers that synchronize with a range of Apple-unowned platforms. In the meantime, their interface often drives you into the frequently lower applications of Apple. check out more tech trends from Technology blog.

WHY NOW?

While authorities in Europe and the USA investigate the broader mobile platform and the power of Apple, iOS 14 is a perfect time to relax default device constraints. The EU is said to be preparing to launch an Apple Antitrust Review following Spotify’s concern about Apple’s own music service with competitor limits. Spotify has argued that Apple requires ios users to buy software from its official App Store, which then charges developers 30 percent fee.

Spotify’s argument from Apple shows just how tough it is to negotiate with the iPhone manufacturer on a market where Apple sets the rules and can change them on a whim. Developers who want to stop Apple’s in-app purchases can not tell clients where and how they can pay outside the App Store. This ensures this applications such as Netflix which do not allow in-app subscription payments are prevented from connecting to their website or from advising the customer that they need to sign up on netflix.com.

Apple faces similar concerns about its 30 percent fee and, last year, the US Supreme Court ruled that it would have to fight a cartel case against App Store.
Nevertheless, concerns go beyond the slashing of Apple. In a previous conference antitrust hearing, Bluetooth security service Tile argued that Apple is undercutting potential competitors on its website. Apple is expected to announce Tile’s Bluetooth monitoring tags rival, and Tile’s Vice President and Advisor General Kirsten Daru accused Apple of using iOS to advance its own interests.

“Apple behaves in a way that favors its own needs as a gatekeeper for software and technology,” Daru said. “Maybe you are the best football team, but you have the arena, the ball, and the game, and if you want you should change the rules.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren who is a Democratic President Nominator nominee is similarly mindful about Apple’s ownership of the App Store and argues that the company shouldn’t both run the Store and sell software in it. “It must be one or the other,” she said last year in an interview with The Verge. “Either the machine is working or they are playing in the shop. You can’t do both at the same time.