Safari is crippling the mobile market, and we never even noticed

Browsers are more than capable of delivering responsive interfaces that cover 95% of what apps do. But mobile browsers, specifically mobile Safari, have refused to implement the relatively short list of features and fixes that would get us there.

I have no doubt it is due to not wanting to give up the profit and control that Apple currently enjoys with the App Store.

This is an interesting conclusion, especially considering that packet managers on linux are alive and well and that Microsoft is currently building their own (winget i believe it is called). Now of course a packet manager isn't the same thing as a store, but I am pretty certain that the app stores will survive. There is value in having your apps update automatically and without you having to worry about it. Not to mention the ease of installation and discoverbility.

(Moreover, responsiveness and battery life, things that Apple presumably cares about, are unlikely to improve by switching from compiled apps to javascript or even webassembly.)

Google, however, might have something to gain from replacing native apps with web apps on iOS.

> Mobile browsing is a pretty naff experience, and it hasn't held back the popularity of smartphones. All those adverts and awful overlays, pop-ups and cranky interfaces. A web service might be OK on the desktop, but on mobile the apps are better, right? Stands to reason.

> This attitude is three things: perception, reality, and wrong. It's a perception because mobile browsing used to be terrible for good reasons: it was a primitive affair running on limited processors with little memory and slow networks. It's reality because, yes, it is still awful. It's wrong because there's been no good reason for this for at least five years. We accept it because we're conditioned to accept it, and Apple has been delighted to keep it that way.

Uh, no. Mobile browsing isn't nearly as bad as he makes it out to be and it has improved. Furthermore it's not safari that makes mobile browsing bad, it's the popups, ads, redirects, etc. I very rarely think "I wish this website could send me push notifications", instead I'm wondering if I can even find the content among the mess. I've been developing mobile/responsive websites for over a decade and developing has only gotten better over that time, it's shit content that's the issue.

> The modern browser is a powerful platform in its own right, but you cannot build a modern browser on the antique engine in Apple's iOS Safari.

What? Antique? They are slower moving than other engines but "antique" is just a silly word to use here. Also I've used Android, there is absolutely nothing interesting over there when it comes to browsers. Sure you have Firefox and Opera but their marketshare is a joke, Chrome (and sometimes Samsung Internet) reign supreme, clearly users do not care.

> The modern iPhone has the literal computing power of a supercomputer from 2001 and the web experience of a desktop PC from 2011. We think that's natural. It's not. It's Apple poisoning the market.

Just going to ignore the form factor/screen size differences? That's my biggest issue with desktop vs mobile. Again, let's look at Android, are people living in the future where custom browser engines are allowed? No, they are doing largely the same things as iOS users.

> Mobile app stores would go the same way, if mobile browsers did the same job – and without people needing to use the Apple App Store. This would mean, though, that Apple would lose the primary differentiator of its mobile brand.

I've used and shipped web-based apps before but this is just silly. Again, even on Android I ship an app because the web is limited and I honestly think we do need a layer of review/security before giving access to some of the features apps get that website do not. Are we forgetting how annoying it is on the desktop to have so many sites ask for push notification permissions? We want more of that? I don't.

> How about the security, rogue program filtration, and guarantees of experience that the app store gatekeepers provide?

> Modern browser and OS security has come a long way in those 14 years of the App Store's existence: there are plenty of ways to keep safe online, and plenty of ways to go wrong on a mobile, even today.

So much of this article is just meaningless fluff or straight BS. What are they even trying to say here? "Things are better but stuff can still go wrong, ignore any security concerns with giving browsers full-access to the device"?

I just cannot take this article seriously. They lay a ton of blame at Safari's feet while giving no explanation as to why the Android landscape looks near-identical. Look I get it, here on HN there will be people that swear by FF or some other browser but other than style or things that can often be accomplished with plugins/addons what are they really providing?

Even if this hamfisted EU law passes we will not see an exodus from the App Stores. There are good reasons why apps are better than webpages in a number of cases. Just look at Android.