I thought MS had moved past this browser wars bullshit.
The sad part is that Edge is pretty decent and could win share on its own merits.
This may make you happy.
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This looks great. It’s interesting what some political pressure can do, and the areas that Apple are willing to compromise a bit on.
First they went back on screen replacements not breaking FaceID, now this.
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I’m still not sure how I feel about this.
You’re gonna get people who think they can repair their own devices doing this and screwing it up. What’s gonna happen then. The local phone repair shop is already apparently ranting about it on one of the local Facebook groups for being anti consumer and anti-competitive because it’ll steal his customers!
Generally I think it’s a cool thing, and I like they’re offering it, but I’m very sceptical and feel like the argument for it is a grass is greener perspective.
I already feel a bit sorry for the store employers who will get a Karen coming in yelling at employees because her tech whiz son screwed up the self repair and it’s Apple’s fault. Curious how Apple is going to approach those situations of customers overestimating themselves and making it worse. Feels like it’ll be a costly mistake for those.
The other issue is. How are people actually going to be able to repair their phone and replace their battery?
My friend at Apple put it best:
Here’s ur display oh btw you need this $1000 oven to remove the adhesive lmao
How many people are gonna put their phone in the microwave on the back of this?
Will see how it plays out. It relies on people to not be stupid, and Apple clearly has more faith in our fellow humans than I do!
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In much the same way as alternative App Stores, I think most will still want Apple to fix it!
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Also I’m not sure how this will affect the warranty and even future serviceability of the device? Apple already don’t touch devices that have been opened by non-authorised repairers so I expect they’d take the same stance with customer repairs
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Curious on that as well. Apple’s issue there is those repairs aren’t authorised by them, and may not use genuine parts.
Presumably the self service, given that it provides genuine parts may not void the warranty, but we’ll see.
They’re not gonna offer something like this and leave their customers stranded without support though. That’s not Apple.
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I’d assume it’s both. The parts shold be genuine and the person doing the work should be properly trained to do so.
If someone decides to open up their device, they should have every expectation that this would void their warranty.
It’s cool that Apple are now offering this, but it should be a tiny niche of people who have the skills to benefit from it.
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To be fair Apple have got a lot of slack for being too strict with self repairing, so seems that they can’t win.
Self repair broadly speaking is better for everyone, and the planet.
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It does, thanks for sharing 
They are going to learn from their mistakes.
I’m a big believer in giving people the right and freedom to fail or make their own mistakes.
Being protected from themselves for their own good (particularly when their actions only affect themselves) is all a bit too overbearing for me and makes me feel uncomfortable. It reduces the need for people to have personal responsibility.
I’m willing to bet that the majority of folks won’t repair their phones themselves, in much the same way as their cars and houses, but I’m glad that it’s possible for those that want to give it a go to do so.
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Apple will probably just insist you buy a new device. I’m sure that is in the back of their mind, as well as the fact that various countries/States are introducing right to repair legislation.
I would be a lot more impressed if they built their devices to be easier to repair in the first place, rather then make it deliberately complex to do.
There’s a trade off here though. New iPhones are built like a tank. They’re also water resistant. The nature of such a design is what makes them so hard to repair, or rather, hard to get into to repair. That’s why Apple need a specialised oven to open up modern iPhones.
Once you’re inside one though, I wouldn’t say Apple devices are terribly difficult to repair. Parts are fairly easy to remove and replace with the right tools. There are plenty of devices out there that are easier to get into, less durable because of it, and a nightmare to repair. Apple are pretty good on this front.
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I do miss the days of somehwat user accessible parts. I’m definitely not Mr DIY, but I had a fun time opening up my Mini to increase the RAM and add an SSD. There are so many guides available online that it is fairly easy and low risk.
My M1 Mini is in the exact same case and I can’t help but feel like the SSD should be a trivial upgrade. Perhaps the move to unified memory makes the RAM a little more complicated, but this machine has no need to be airtight. But it’s hard to think of a good reason why this couldn’t be more user serviceable.
Personally I’m not inclined to give Apple the benefit of the doubt, so it’s hard not to look at the massive margins they make on RAM and SSD upgrades and assume the worst.
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Blizzabelle isn’t worth installing it for!
Honestly, since Master Chief was added, I’ve never been compelled to buy the season pass or any store skins since!
Until chapter 3 anyway! Fortnite feels fresh and invigorated again and I’m enjoying it, so they get my support. Plus The Rock is in it so I care about the lore now.
Really don’t like the fragmentation their PC is strategy is causing though, and is yet another reason why I’ll stick with the simpler Xbox life for my needs! As tempting as a gaming PC can be at times. Every time I hear my friends complain about driver updates, the settings getting messed up, games not running optimally, having to have a different store and launcher just for Fortnite really puts me off.
Epic should just make their own console at this point. I’d probably buy it. Would feel much less annoying and anti-consumer than a lot of their other actions to me. Some more competition on that front would be cool too. I still can’t play fall guys yet, because they’re trying to become a monopoly when it comes to live service games.
The CMA’s provisional view is that these reasons do not provide a compelling justification for Apple’s restrictions. The CMA considers it plausible that the privacy and security offered through the App Store could be replicated for games within cloud gaming catalogues, for example by a mixture of Apple applying the protections to the cloud gaming app as a whole, and the cloud gaming service provider applying equivalent protections within the app.
Apple also submitted that users expect to be able to find and access individual streaming games in the same way as they currently find downloadable game apps within the App Store. However, the CMA found no evidence to support this submission, and notes that user expectations may change over time as a result of innovation. For example, users would have expected to download music in the past, whereas they are now more than willing to stream songs.
The CMA also notes that Apple’s treatment of other apps that provide a wide range of content including user-generated “creator content” (such as Roblox) provides a model for how it might allow cloud gaming apps on the App Store, while still offering privacy protection. For example, the Netflix and Disney+ apps present age ratings for individual pieces of content within their apps and allow parents to set parental controls. In addition, Google allows cloud gaming apps on the Play Store, without any indication that this has compromised user safety. According to the CMA this is a further indication that cloud gaming services can be offered in a way that is compatible with privacy and security considerations.
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It’s stunning that Apple seem to actively be inviting more regulation on themselves.
This is such a middle finger at the Netherlands 
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To me that says they value the payment processing and management (including customer service) aspect of the services they supply to developers to be valued at 3%. Sounds a pretty fair sum.
Regulators need to tread carefully though lest they wind up doing more harm than good! Likewise Apple need to tread carefully too lest the annoy the regulators into destroying just how good we have things right now. If they can’t find common ground we either price indie developers out of the development market or we fracture, fragment, and weaken our operating systems.
People have forgotten what came before and just how dreadful they were, both for honest small developers and consumers alike. We have it so good right now but nobody can see it because 
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As I keep endlessly banging on about; change is (likely) coming, and it looks like it has bipartisan support.
Surely a little bit of self regulation could have headed this off at the pass, but here we are.
Gotta love MS throwing in their vigorous support. It’s always nice to cash in a strategy credit when you have no skin in the game.