Amaya Toman Not even the past week went by without a lawsuit filed against Apple. This time, it is an older lawsuit against which Apple originally wanted to appeal, but the appeal was rejected. In addition to the lawsuit regarding the possible misuse of AirTags during stalking, today's summary will discuss, for example, what Apple's ideas are about the generous storage capacity, or how it will be with sideloading fees.
It could be interest you
Sideloading and fees
Sideloading, which Apple must now enable for its users in the territory of the European Union, presents, among other things, one rather large risk for small application developers. The stumbling block lies in a fee called the Core Technology Fee. The European Union is trying to fight monopolistic practices by big tech companies with a law called the Digital Markets Act. The law forces companies like Apple to allow developers to create alternative app stores, use other payment methods, and make other changes.
The problem with said fee is that it could make it impossible for small developers to operate. If a free application distributed under the new EU rules becomes extremely popular thanks to viral marketing, its development team could owe Apple huge sums. After exceeding 1 million downloads, they would have to pay 50 cents for each additional download.
Developer Riley Testut, who created the AltStore app store and the Delta Emulator, asked Apple directly about the problem with free apps. He gave an example of his own project from high school when he created his own app. Under the new rules, he would now owe Apple 5 million euros for it, which would likely ruin his family financially.
An Apple representative responded that the Digital Markets Act is forcing them to completely change how their app store works. Developer fees to date have included technology, distribution and payment processing. The system was set up so that Apple only made money when the developers also made money. This made it easy and cheap for anyone, from a ten-year-old programmer to a grandparent trying out a new hobby, to develop and publish applications. After all, this is one of the reasons why the number of applications in the App Store rose from 500 to 1,5 million.
Although Apple wants to support independent developers of all ages, the current system does not include them due to the Digital Markets Act.
An Apple representative promised that they are working on a solution, but did not yet say when a solution would be ready.
According to Apple, 128GB of storage is sufficient
The storage capacity of iPhones has been steadily increasing over the years for a number of reasons. There was a time when 128GB could fit the entire existing catalog of video games, but over time storage needs have increased. However, with four years approaching with 128GB of base storage, it's clear that's not quite enough despite what Apple's latest ad might claim.
The short 15-second ad shows a man thinking about deleting some of his photos, but they shout "Don't Let Me Go" to the sound of the song of the same name. The message of the ad is clear - the iPhone 128 has "lots of storage space for lots of photos". According to Apple, the basic 5GB is sufficient, but many users do not agree with this statement. Not only new applications demand more capacity, but also photos and videos of ever-increasing quality, as well as system data. iCloud doesn't help much in this regard either, the free version of which is only XNUMXGB. Users who want to buy a high-quality smartphone - which the iPhone undoubtedly is, and who at the same time want to save both on the device and on the iCloud fee, have no choice but to settle for the basic variant of storage and thus want either applications or photos .
Lawsuit over AirTags
Apple has lost a motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging its AirTag devices help stalkers track their victims. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco ruled on Friday that three plaintiffs in the class action had made sufficient claims for negligence and product liability, but dismissed the other claims. About three dozen men and women who filed the suit claimed that Apple was warned of the risks its AirTags posed, and argued that the company could be held liable under California law if the tracking devices were used to commit illegal acts. In the three suits that survived, the plaintiffs, according to Justice Chhabria "they allege that at the time they were persecuted, the problems with the security features of the AirTags were fundamental and that these security flaws caused them harm."
"Apple may ultimately be right that California law did not require it to do more to reduce stalkers' ability to effectively use AirTags, but that decision cannot be made at this early stage." the judge wrote, allowing the three plaintiffs to pursue their claims.
