The EU competition chief warned that Apple should not use privacy and security as a shield against competition, fighting recent efforts by the company to lobby against side-downloading and alternative app stores on iOS.
From .:
Europe’s CTO Margrethe Vestager warned iPhone maker Apple (AAPL.O) on Friday not to use privacy and security concerns to fend off competition in its App Store – reasons CEO Tim Cook gave for not. allow users to install software from outside the store.
In an interview, Vestager said that he shared Apple’s concerns regarding security and privacy, stating that “I believe privacy and security are of the utmost importance to everyone,” however, stating that this would not be compromised by download on iOS or alternative app stores:
“The important thing here is, of course, that it is not a shield against competition because I believe that customers will not give up security or privacy if they use another app store or if they download”
However, Vestager also hinted that it was “open to changes in its proposal” and that it thought it was “possible to find a solution to this”, and that it had no problem with Apple’s recent privacy changes.
“As I said, I think that on several occasions it is good that when providers provide us with the service we can easily establish our preferences if we want to be tracked outside of the use of an application or not, as long as it is the same condition for everyone. So far, we have no reason to believe that this is not the case for Apple «
The reasoning behind Vestager’s comments was not reported, but in recent weeks Apple has fervently defended itself against the prospect of side-downloading and alternative app stores, stating that it would compromise iOS security, leading to much more. malware targeting the platform. You can read the full report of Apple’s rebuttal against data transfer here.
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