'Apple's WebKit enforcement on iOS deprives web browsers of the future'
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Apple is forcing Apple-developed WebKit to be used as the rendering engine for browsers running on iOS, even Firefox and Chrome. Alex Russell, product manager at Microsoft Edge, has strongly criticized the issue: 'Apple isn't trying to prevent Chrome from monopolizing the market, but rather depriving the browser of its future.'
Apple Is Not Defending Browser Engine Choice --Infrequently Noted
https://infrequently.org/2022/06/apple-is-not-defending-browser-engine-choice/
In the first place, Mr. Russell was told on Twitter that 'Apple has prevented the monopoly by Chrome, so we can choose a browser engine.' But if Russell said, 'If WebKit wasn't mandated, Google-developed Chromium would dominate the browser market,' Safari users need a reason to switch to the Chromium browser, which is shown. I don't. '
Ironically, we only have engine choice because Apple has prevented a complete takeover of the web by chromium.
— Miguel de Icaza (@migueldeicaza) June 7, 2022
Browsers are focused on excellent features, improved performance, improved security, and improved site compatibility. “Marketing and distribution are of course important, but they aren't decisive in the browser market share battles of recent years, and better products tend to be closer to victory,” Russell said.
Google Chrome has a majority share in the Windows environment because it is a good browser, but it takes more than 5 years to break the stronghold of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, so it is so easy to break the share of the browser. Not Russell said. Even if Chromium's browser is good, Apple has time to deal with it, so it's difficult to break Safari's share of the iOS browser.
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Meanwhile, Apple's ban on iOS browser engine competition has lost the potential for improvements that browser choices bring, Russell said. If we can't differentiate ourselves in terms of features, security, performance, privacy, compatibility, etc., we can offer future-proof features that will stop browser sales and make the web a more attractive platform. Russell claims it will be gone.
Russell also summarized Apple's browser policy as follows, stating that Apple has been aiming for 'anti-diversity' for many years.
-Since iOS 2.0 released in 2008, Apple has not allowed browsers other than Safari, which is the default browser.
-Apple has been blocking competing browser engines from being brought to iOS for 14 years, forcing vendors to build skins based on Apple's WebKit.
-Apple doesn't even allow WebKit to provide different runtime flags.
-Apple is acting on its own priority, such as installing PWA on the home screen and implementing a media codec through Safari's dedicated API access.
Developing a browser is very costly. For example, Mozilla, which develops Firefox, costs between $ 380 million and $ 430 million annually, and it still costs a lot of bonuses and salaries, and is remote. He said he is saving money by hiring employees. In other words, we can assume that the annual cost of $ 450 million will be the baseline for developing and maintaining a competitive browser.
Search engine usage fees make up for the large cost of developing this browser. Apple, which develops Safari, is reported to receive $ 8 billion to $ 12 billion annually from Google as of 2020. For this reason, developing a browser that holds a large market share is a major business of a company.
Google continues to pay Apple a fair amount to keep its default search engine position-GIGAZINE
'Unlike Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which wasn't allowed to develop on a completely slow browser, Safari has well-acceptable web compatibility, a 90% share of the popular iOS, and is even more immeasurable,' Russell said. It's generating profits on a non-existent scale, 'he said, and the theory that' if Apple didn't enforce WebKit, Chromium would have monopolized it 'creates a situation for Apple to make huge profits on its own. It is said that it denies power.
At the same time, Russell argued that Apple prioritized profits, so it wasn't devoting people to developing WebKit, and as a result, wasn't spending more on browser development than Mozilla. 'Every browser has a competitive source of people, and Apple isn't limited in its ability to hire engineering talent. Apple was able to make a much better browser, but not every year. That's it. '
Chromium and Firefox's Gecko are open source developed, with engine improvements and forks that have spawned not only Chrome and Firefox, but many other browsers as well, and the versatility of these web browsers is undoubtedly the web. It was created by the competition of browsers, Russell said. But that diversity requires funding, and Apple, which makes a lot of money but doesn't participate in the web browser competition, isn't protecting the diversity of web browsers, but rather depriving them of their future potential. Russell insisted that it was.
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