Apple’s iOS is a closed ecosystem which has endeared it to millions of users across the globe. However, this level of control has also ensured that people are confined to using its in-house apps and services as the default platform, even if they don’t want to.
This has meant users were unable to choose web browsers like Chrome or Firefox as the default app on their iPhones. But this is likely to change in the coming months, as Apple is reportedly looking to change its stance, after a recent lawsuit exposed the company’s measures of suppressing competition apps on its App store.
This development has been forced on Apple after a US House of Representatives antitrust panel questioned the company for its practices and anti-competitive conduct.
So the news about Apple willing to let you choose default third party apps on iPhone opens up the prospect of trying different products, which allows other developers to make money every time a user downloads an app from the App Store.
The opening up of apps to its ecosystem could also trickle down to its Siri voice assistant, which as of now, considers Apple Music as its default music platform, and any request for a user is played on that. This means, in the foreseeable future, iPhone users will be allowed to access content from other music apps like Spotify or YouTube Music through the voice assistant.
The control presided over by Apple has been criticised by many, but it has taken a strong action from the US antitrust panel for the company to reconsider its authoritative approach with other developers on the platform.
And it’s not just Apple, Google has also been reprimanded for a similar stance on prioritising its own apps as the go-to option for users.
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