I for one am excited at the prospect that I might be able to install Firefox with ublock origin on my iPhone.
I wouldn't call that "just fine".
If not for Safari (18.84% market share) Google could just dictate what happens on the Internet, because Chrome-based browsers would be the de facto standard.
The only reason sites still bother to support non-Chrome browsers is the fact that people on iOS monetise REALLY well compared to other segments.
Sites work well in practically every browser because we're not living in 2005 anymore. Some missing APIs are broken, but how often do you really need WebSerial on your phone.
And therein lies the motivation to "open up" Apple's ecosystem, people just can't stand looking at all those dollar signs without being able to get their hands on them any way possible.
"So Apple just gets exclusive access to their users' money?!?" Well, they are the ones that built and maintain the ecosystem. Everyone else just wants to get in there and extract wealth like slash-and-burn rainforest developers or strip-miners.
Thus they go privacy first in things just because they can. Like randomising IDs used to identify players across apps and services. You should've seen the tears marketing shed when that change happened.
But the competition (Google) is by all measurements an ad company that does software and hardware on the side, they cannot go the privacy route. Ads require tracking and tracking implies privacy issues.
Firefox really isn't doing just fine, though Google might decide to keep them alive through browser payments just to not look like a monopoly.
The reason you don't think so is because you are likely equating developer features with investment. But actually Apple just has different priorities which are security, privacy and battery life. They aren't trying to push more pro-advertising features like Google is or turn the browser into an operating system.
It is delusional to think that if Chrome becomes more popular that they are suddenly going to abandon their values.
Someone should fix this. Don't block whatever trackers StatCounter use.
Opening up mobile browsers _would_ be good if not for the fact the consequence will be bugs that won't be fixed by devs for everyone not using Chrome.
Just use Chrome is advice that will be given by the corps when these bugs arise.
Our legislators are about to sleep walk into Google determining web standards fairly much unilaterally. Manifest V3 is what they do when they don't quite have that power. And that is a problem for Firefox users.
The viability of Firefox as a browser is definitely going to decrease if devs only test for chrome.
People need services like banking, paying bills, secure web based portals. If the only browser these institutions are testing for is Chrome we will be in trouble.
I could write a web app for a bank. I could write a payments platform for the bank. I cannot code a bank. I could write a platform for the wholesale energy market and a front end for payments. I cannot code an energy company.
All I can see any of this doing in the medium term is increasing Google's market power and making the web less free.
All in the name of getting Chrome on a device that is inherently unfree.
Nothing about the safari monoculture on iphones makes people support Firefox because support is 100% a function of market share, and the monoculture actually prevents the Firefox engine from getting a sliver of market share on iOS.
The state right now isn’t “people code to web standards because safari forces them to” - its that they spend time % proportional to market %. That means code to chrome and then fix bugs in mobile safari. And even if chrome was wildly successful in getting iPhone users to switch and destroying safari marketshars there, reducing testing on safari, it doesn’t hurt Firefox. Testing on safari doesn’t help catch Firefox bugs because it’s a totally different engine.