Thing is the EU and probably Australia don’t care for this kind of corporate apologism and recognise the danger of complete platform lockdown. This just increases customer choice within a platform. If you actually cared about choice you’d applaud it.
As an Australian - I am excited and I hope Apple just also enables sideloading here to sidestep any attention.
iPhone 3G in 2008 and basically iPhone ever year since. Had an iPad from 2010 until 2016 and only just purchased a new one this year. I have a Watch, AirPods, and an ATV that I’m not super fond of except for HomeKit.
I’ve had MacBooks over the years, but I don’t like macOS and although the M series is great, I can get a more useful PC laptop for the price (I play PC games).
I try not to rely too heavily on iCloud though - OneDrive/Office for most files, Google Photos for my photo library. iCloud is too much ecosystem lock-in for me.
Siri has consistently been behind every other smart assistant (ignore AI) despite being one of the first, so this article seems like a balm to soothe anxious shareholders rather than anything legitimate.
What are they offering? A closed platform that arbitrarily stops perfectly valid apps over idiotic concerns of “competition”?
When people say Apple fans are sheep this is what they mean.