Whats next iphones only opening approved websites?
EDIT: While that seems super sarcastic. Consider this: Game streaming services are in the end just a gateway app to games, in the same way the browser is a gateway to the internet. Furthermore apple already did hinder "browserish" gateways, like apps which are a gateway to more ergonomically reading word-press blogs or message apps which where gateways to a federated "internet of messaging".
There’s a simple consistent principle in operation. If an app is simply a neutral front end to a distributed set of independent back end services that are not managed by the owner of the app, then the app owner is not responsible for the content. Web browsers clearly match this description as the browser developer isn’t responsible for all the web sites you could visit. But it also applies to email clients, Mastodon clients, arguably even podcast clients and many more.
If the client app is only used to access content also owned, curated or managed by the client app vendor, then the client app vendor is on the hook for that content. Audible falls in this category, even though it’s superficially similar to a podcast app, because the app client vendor also owns or curates all the content. Sure there are some odd edge cases, but games streaming services pretty clearly fall into this category, and not the same category as web browsers.
The owner of the gaming service is still curating the content available through that service. It's not like simply running the service through the browser allows any and every game to be on the service. Game devs for instance, would still need to negotiate with the owners of the game service in order to have their game available on the service. Might even need to pay the game service?
So why should Apple allow a web browser based service but block the same one (XBOX) if it uses a native application?
let's be honest, Apple dopes it for money not for users, blocking XBOX will not protect anyone , Apple wants a big cut or even better they want to sell their own gaming service in future.
The Amazon service won’t appear in the App Store and won’t be sold by Apple. With the Microsoft client it would be sold by Apple in the App Store. If Apple sells you something they want a degree of say in what gets sold.
I mean the only reason this seems sarcastic is because the web predates the App Store by a few decades and so we are used to the web working this way. If the concept had come up after the App Store had been published, Apple would have done exactly this.
Why do individual games need to be approved but not individual movies in movie streaming services? I think clearly we need to ban movie apps until every program has been vetted.
That's not necessarily true. The difference is that the streaming services don't have exclusivity on those licenses which is not the case for game services. Additionally, Apple runs its own movie service and allows movies that it has access to screen. The same wouldn't be true for games.
Netflix and Amazon definitely has exclusivity on their IP which means that there is far more exclusive content on video streaming services than on game streaming services which outside of Microsoft currently which has a few first party exclusives all license content from other publishers - and that content that is available on multiple platforms.
That doesn't matter. Netflix still has to go through the same processes as movie companies regardless if their specific IP is exclusive to their platform. My point was that they don't have exclusivity when it comes to providing that content which is not the case with Microsoft's XCloud, for example. All of that content is only available from Microsoft because every game on the platform has to be licensed by Microsoft.
> Whats next iphones only opening approved websites?
Unironically, I think that this could happen soon.
That sounds crazy, but here me out. Pretty recently there was an announcement regarding a streamer service, that would allow people to play Fortnite, from their phone, through a mobile safari
So, in order to block fortnite form being played on an iPhone, Apple would literally have to do what you are suggesting.
Except that playing Fortnite isn't the thing that's being disallowed. It just happened to contain an in-app purchase system that did not use the Apple-approved method, and Fortnite's developers refused to remove that.
Apple has always clearly stated that this is perfectly fine on websites, just not in apps.
Don’t they already do this to block access to domains they think may be negative for user experience? I think chrome does this for phishing sites, malware sites? If not they should consider something like googles blocks
App Store has been around for over a decade with largely the same rules.
It is their platform and ultimately they have a right to determine what apps they do or do not approve. Whether it's streaming or not is completely irrelevant.
EDIT: While that seems super sarcastic. Consider this: Game streaming services are in the end just a gateway app to games, in the same way the browser is a gateway to the internet. Furthermore apple already did hinder "browserish" gateways, like apps which are a gateway to more ergonomically reading word-press blogs or message apps which where gateways to a federated "internet of messaging".