Image Credit: Bloomberg
Apple Inc, facing accusations from competitors that it has too much control over its App Store, outlined plans on Monday to improve user privacy and protect consumer data from other companies, outlining features including enhanced video conferencing capabilities and virtual ID storage. governments. iPhones.
The change came at Apple’s annual Worldwide Software Developers Conference, some of which started complaining about Apple controlling which apps can appear on its devices, as well as its 15% to 30% commission on digital sales.
Many of the new features enable users to protect their data by trusting the information to the Apple brand. Users will be able to scan IDs in participating US states, and cards will be encrypted in the user’s digital wallet along with credit cards and transit cards in select US cities. He is working with the Transportation Security Administration on the adoption of digital IDs at airports.
In many cases, Apple itself cannot see all of the information.
The company has updated the paid version of its iCloud storage service to include a service that hides the user’s web browsing habits, even from Apple. Another new iCloud feature will allow users to hide their real email address, which is increasingly being used as an identifier for tracking users by digital marketers. Apple has said that iCloud pricing will not change with the introduction of new features.
Apple has also tweaked some of its apps and services in such a way as to strengthen its rivalry with Zoom Video Communications Inc and Microsoft Corp’s Teams, both of which gained prominence during the pandemic.
He updated his FaceTime video chat app to be able to schedule calls with multiple participants and make the software compatible with Android and Windows devices.
Apple also introduced what it calls in-game events, a way for developers to stream live in apps and display those events in real time in the App Store. For example, video game developers can host live tournaments and sell them on the App Store, which Apple’s current systems are not designed to do.
The move could intensify competition with Facebook Inc., which on Monday said it plans to launch an online event business that will be free until 2023, and thereafter will charge a commission lower than Apple’s 30% App Store commission.
Some of the other features Apple unveiled on Monday, such as the ability to take a picture of a sign and use artificial intelligence to extract written text, have been present in the rival Android operating system for several years now.
The rest of Apple’s conference is dedicated to tech sessions for developers, some of which have bristled with its oversight and fees.
These issues have come under close regulatory scrutiny and are at the heart of an antitrust lawsuit filed by Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, in which a federal judge is considering how to make a decision.
Apple said its App Store practice is expanding the mobile software market by creating an environment for paid apps that consumers trust, and Apple CEO Tim Cook and his team did not address developer relationship issues during the presentation.
Not all developers are negative, said Ben Bajarin, chief executive of Creative Strategies, who surveyed Apple developers and found that more than 90% do not plan to stop building apps for Apple devices.
However, some complaints are widespread: more than half of developers say fees should be capped at 10%, and many want more clarity on why apps from the App Store have been rejected and how to deal with them, Bajarin said.
0 Yorumlar