And yet there is no precedent for this happening, because this didn't happen on Android, Windows or macOS. The Play Store shows the same scary privacy warnings the App Store does for Facebook, and there still isn't a Facebook app store that some people like to fearmonger about.
But at the risk of pointing out the obvious: on Windows and macOS, there is no Facebook app at all. There’s a website, because somehow websites have become the standard for desktop applications, even as they’re simultaneously seen as unacceptable on mobile. And Facebook has full control over their website.
Of companies that do make native desktop apps, the big ones almost all eschew the Mac App Store.
Afterall, it was released in 2018.
The point is more that if the App Store is to be the only App Store on iOS, and Apple wants to maintain its rules on privacy and other systems and not become Android, sideloading logically cannot be permitted.
This is a little like exclusives at physical stores but customers have a much less involved relationship in that case.
Google allows sideloading on Android. Neither Facebook nor any other similarly-popular app that I can think of forces users to sideload there. Why would it be different on iOS?
Facebook hasn't taken out any full page ads in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and probably others about Google Android not allowing them to track you without asking first. Clearly the circumstances are different.
With that said, I find the argument weak - it’s hard for me to believe that sideloading will be a big share of the market, as it hasn’t caught on in areas where a google is restrictive (e.g. adult content).
If sideloading was enabled, Facebook could claim use of those entitlements. iOS could potentially show a prompt forcing users to OK their use, but Facebook would obviously hope most people just tap the button without thinking.
When spying on users and hoarding the resulting data is illegal, and anti-fraud laws and truth-in-advertising laws and laws mandating a standard interface for subscription management exist or are much better-enforced, then, sure, let's grab the torches and pitchforks and burn down the App Store. Meanwhile, I'm paying Apple to be my private regulation agency, backed by their sheer size (as a company, and of their market) to prevent companies and developers from simply refusing to do business with them (and so, not forcing, but strongly encouraging them to provide me with regulation-compliant products and services).
> Apple is afraid of giving users the choice, as much as that large apps that people use will force users to make the choice for them.
That assumes that users have no choice but keep using the side loaded software. But that's not true. People could just stop using Facebook entirely.
I guess the majority wouldn't, but the choice is there at least.
In regards to privacy, I agree with Apple's stance. But what about other areas? I don't want one single company dictating what I can or can't use on my device.
Your vision: I can choose not to use Facebook on my iOS devices, or else use it but let FB have access to and/or do a bunch of stuff I don't want them to.
How's the latter something I'd prefer to the former? All it gives me is a worse version of the same to choices from the first one.
If people are still using Facebook, today, knowing all that has happened, the odds are most people will continue using it though one can dream. I would honestly expect 90%+ of Facebook users to sideload if Facebook required it.
"But what about other areas? I don't want one single company dictating what I can or can't use on my device."
If you told this to an Apple Engineer, he'd look at you in the eye and tell you that the iPhone isn't for you and to buy an Android. You have that choice. The iPhone doesn't fit your use case and Apple isn't interested in making it fit your use case.
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Why sideload when you can simply open it up in any mobile browser?
Easy solution for Apple then: stop selling things labelled as "pro". I was already burned when I bought the 16 inch Macbook Pro, which was a shockingly incapable and undocumented device. Lenovo provides better documentation on their entry level laptops than Apple provides for their Pros, despite the order of magnitude difference in price between both devices. So to the "Apple Engineer" out there, I'd encourage you give people the choice anyways.
In other words, North Korea doesn't justify their atrocities by telling the rest of the world that their culture "isn't for them". Apple is no less accountable for their own product line, particularly when they're some of the most profitable electronic hardware being manufactured right now.
As for the term "pro" - nobody agrees what "pro" means. An art designer might do professional work on a MacBook Air, even though you wouldn't call that a "pro" machine. Although you might not like the terminology, you should have been able to research and know what you were getting, and it still absolutely does not bear the comparison to North Korea. First world problems compared to third world tyranny.
Easy solution for you: Accept that its not for you, even if you think you're "pro". Its just a word for marketing. You're the one with a problem in search of solution, apple is not.
That’s, a bit of a stretch.
Because of that, there are less reasons to sideload away from the Play Store (from a company's perspective) as there are on iOS.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/28/google-to-enforce-30percent-...
Starting from September 30, that's no longer the case.
Case study: Facebook. Hates Apple for the App Tracking Transparency prompt. Hates that they get substantially less revenue from iPhone users, according to leaked slides, due to restrictions on what APIs they can use to fingerprint and track users. Hates having a Privacy Label in the App Store. Solution? Force users to sideload. They'll most likely do it because they want Facebook, Facebook doesn't need to follow Apple's rules anymore, problem solved.
In that case, it is less that Apple is afraid of giving users the choice, as much as that large apps that people use will force users to make the choice for them.
And for that reason, while some users would legitimately want their iPhones to be able to install apps from anywhere, most users hitting the "Allow Sideloading" button would have essentially been forced into doing so, without actually wanting it.