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A closer look at Apple’s browser-related changes to iOS in EU

The raft of iOS changes Apple dropped in the European Union yesterday, as it prepares for enforcement of the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA) to kick in The raft of iOS changes Apple dropped in the European Union yesterday, related to the Digital Markets Act, include some big developments around browsers that look set to shake up a pretty stale market...

The iPhone maker will surely be making the case to EU regulators that the standards it plans to impose on developers wanting to access the non-WebKit entitlements are “strictly necessary and proportionate” to protect the “integrity” of its platforms — in line with what the DMA allows gatekeepers to do (provided they justify their conditions and criteria). Apple maintaining iOS as a cookie-free-tracking zone, therefore, looks helpful to Google’s prospects of getting its Sandbox more widely adopted — and unhelpful for rival adtech players who may be trying, against the odds (and with zero respect for web users’ privacy), to keep tracking cookies alive. But, equally, some reduction in Apple’s controlled protections may be considered a price worth paying to boost choice and competition — provided users have real agency to choose and are properly (and fairly) informed of any risks.

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