Apple's grudging accommodation of European antitrust rules by allowing third-party app stores on iPhones has left users of its Safari browser exposed to potential web activity tracking.
EU: demands changes to allow non-verifiable software
Their platform is less secure because apple implemented side loading in a half assed way just so they can say that they comply. Computers and android phones have been doing this since forever without any major issues. I believe if the security of your platform relies on only installing apps from a single "trusted" source (that has an incentive to make money), then it's not secure.
"Apple – which advertises Safari as "incredibly private" – evidently has undermined privacy among European Union Safari users through a marketplace-kit
That's not what's said in the article. At all. What so ever.
The problem isn't suddenly allowing third party browsers. It's that Apple's implementation to allow that in Safari sends out info about sites visited with those app stores. It allows snooping of what 3rd party things people use.
you missed the point of the article, its about apple basically giving users all their location data, and a hi vis jacket when shopping around such that anyone is allowed to access said information on where youve been. its apples fault for taping the website cookies to a unique identifier and allowing any website to access said list.
this has nothing to do with 3rd party apps, but how apple handles other stores in its own browser.
People care about privacy. But they care more about convenience. If the browser is preinstalled on your system and you are not making a deliberate choice to switch, you'll keep using it.
Changing a habit is a difficult task. Usually, people don't like to do it. So they stick with the worse, even though there are such beautiful things like Firefox.
That's what giants like Apple know. They draw people into their own ecosystem in order to groom them into the perfect customer. They start in schools by giving schools special cheap licenses to use Apple products. An investment into future customers, because as we know, customers will gravitate towards stuff they know.