Apple reportedly tells support staff not to speculate on iPhone sideloading in other markets،
The imminent release of iOS 17.4 brings new features to iPhone unique to the 27 EU member states. It was thanks to the EU's Digital Market Act (DMA) that pushed Apple to make several changes. One major change will allow iPhone users in the EU to download apps, which is just a fancy way of saying they can install apps from third-party
app stores. Changes must take place no later than March 7.
Everywhere else, Apple maintains its walled garden approach that allows it to maintain control over the apps listed in the App Store so that iPhone users don't download malware-laden apps to their phones. It's a valid argument, even if malicious apps sometimes manage to get past Apple's security system. It might not be a good idea to be an Apple apologist, but the truth is that iPhone users wouldn't want to install an app that could access their financial apps and steal their money, slowing down their phone and reduce battery life.
According to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg,
writing in his weekly newsletter Power On, Apple is asking its AppleCare support team not to speculate with customers about whether Apple will offer sideloading and third-party app store support in other countries. Gurman points out that Apple expects its customers to flood support staff with such questions, given that many iPhone owners want the freedom to install apps outside of the App Store. Apple.
Big changes are coming to iPhone in the EU next week with the release of iOS 17.4
The argument about side loading can be boiled down to two different ways of thinking about it. Apple, as we noted above, has long felt that it was doing iPhone owners a favor by preventing them from installing apps they hadn't looked at first. But some iPhone owners say they spent money to buy an iPhone and what they do with it should be entirely up to them.
As for the question that Apple doesn't want support staff to speculate on, given that it took a set of regulations accompanied by threats of significant sanctions to get Apple to allow sideloading in the EU, it will take probably regulations or similar legislation. to the DMA to get Apple to offer sideloading in other markets.
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