Apple is forced to allow installation of 3rd party Apps (outside of their official store) in the EU

[somebodyelse]

There's apparently no viable market at all for a totally open smartphone. If there was a company like Qualcomm would happily sell the chipsets, cheap screens and other phone hardware could be easily subcontracted, and an open source free OS akin to Linux would emerge. To my knowledge nothing like this is available.

The market is small but seems viable given some of the manufacturers still exist. There are also projects running a free OS on Android hardware. I could go a lot deeper but it's probably OT. Nokia might have had a chance with Meego based on the reviews of the N9, but Elop killed it at birth so we'll never know.

 

[somebodyelse]

The legal term is "fair use". Most of us have ripped CD's to a hard drive for convenience which is fair use as long as we don't give out or sell copies.

True in the US, but not everywhere. In the UK the term is 'fair dealing' but it doesn't include ripping CDs for personal use. The law was changed in 2014 to allow personal use ripping, but the courts overturned it a few months later.

 

[somebodyelse]

I don't consider the conduct of either to be anticompetitive in the traditional sense. These companies have created new ecosystems. If Epic of Spotify want in, they should have to pay for the privilege. My view is the EU is practicing economic nationalism. The US approach is shortsighted overly academic antibusiness.

Microsoft created a new ecosystem with Windows but some of their conduct favouring Internet Explorer was held to be a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Apple and Google go further in favouring their own products that, like IE, weren't originally part of the OS. Google at least allow alternatives, but in some cases Apple doesn't even do that. So we come back to how much market influence is needed before the conduct counts as abusive. Europe tends to have a lower threshold than the US. I'd call it pro-consumer rather than anti-business. It's a similar situation with personal data as in the 'spyware in cars' thread, employment law and probably a load of other areas.

 

[blueone]

The market is small but seems viable given some of the manufacturers still exist.

Seems very unlikely.

 

[Ron Texas]

Microsoft created a new ecosystem with Windows but some of their conduct favouring Internet Explorer was held to be a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Apple and Google go further in favouring their own products that, like IE, weren't originally part of the OS. Google at least allow alternatives, but in some cases Apple doesn't even do that. So we come back to how much market influence is needed before the conduct counts as abusive. Europe tends to have a lower threshold than the US. I'd call it pro-consumer rather than anti-business. It's a similar situation with personal data as in the 'spyware in cars' thread, employment law and probably a load of other areas.

I'm aware of the Microsoft litigation and don't agree with the result. In the EU there was the absurdity of a version of Windows without IE or Media Player. The browser problem solved itself with the introduction of competent third party browsers. I view the EU approach as economic nationalism. I asm dumbfounded that a product which becomes popular because of its walled garden is somehow abusive. This is more about giving free or cheap access to the walled garden to Spotify and Epic who would not have those customers without Apple.

 

[somebodyelse]

Seems very unlikely.

At the risk of going OT:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_mobile_phones
Purism and Pine64 kicked off the latest round of interest in 2019 and are still selling phones. Fairphone weren't originally interested in the free software side, but moved towards it partly because of customers asking for it, and partly because it helped them provide software updates for longer. None of these are exactly 'normal' phone manufacturers. I'm not familiar with the Volla phones.

In the software side the biggest are probably the AOSP derivatives LineageOS and /e/ which target Android phone hardware with unlocked bootloaders. It's arguable whether these count as Android or not as they don't have the Google bits like the Play Store unless you decide to install them. CopperheadOS and GrapheneOS are in a similar space.
Some linux varieties target the Android hardware too, via libhybris in cases where the drivers are closed. There are phone-specific distros like postmarketOS, mobian and ubports, as well as more generic distros that can run on phones. https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Software_Releases covers most of them.

Like I said it's a small market, and mostly needs a fair bit of skill to install. I think /e/ sell some pre-installed. The linux side still needs a fair bit of work too, but for some the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Anbox and Waydroid provide some ability to run Android apps, but like Wine they can't run everything.

There's also KaiOS, based on Firefox OS and running on feature phones.

 

[Ron Texas]

GrapheneOS is a security hardened and privacy enhanced version of Android which runs on Pixel phones. Google apps have been removed and some like the assistant don't work right if installed. Some banking apps don't work either. It can be used to get an extra year or two out of a Pixel which is no longer being updated.

 

[somebodyelse]

AOSP is the open source part of Android that Google release in code form. LineageOS, /e/, CopperheadOS and GrapheneOS are all based on it, and it doesn't include the Google apps. Most people expect Android to include the Google apps, and Google won't let manufacturers to call it an Android phone if it doesn't, which is why I say it's arguable whether they count as Android. Some apps not working, especially banking apps, applies to all of them. See also https://microg.org/

Copperhead and Graphene have a stronger emphasis on security than LineageOS, so they only port to phones with the hardware security features they have decided they need. I didn't think it was only Pixels, but it's a while since I looked. They wouldn't touch a PinePhone!

 

[Ron Texas]

https://www.newsmax.com/finance/streettalk/apple-google-antitrust/2024/03/24/id/1158404/

This is a wire service article I pulled off Newsmax exploring possible remedies in the Apple antitrust suit and possible involvement with Google.

 

[007Shortz]

GrapheneOS is a security hardened and privacy enhanced version of Android which runs on Pixel phones ... Some banking apps don't work either.

I'm using GrapheneOS for a year now. Don't want anything else:
- Banking Applications Compatibility with GrapheneOS
- Louis Rossmann's video about GrapheneOS
- GrapheneOS Homepage