The introduction of Digital Market Act (DMA) and the gradual opening of the Apple ecosystem have caused a real earthquake among the technological giants.
The new business model adopted byApp Store has caused a lot of discontent, with other companies like Spotify e Mozilla who were quick to harshly criticize the Cupertino giant. Despite the chorus against Apple’s actions, however, there are also those who see an opportunity in the new market dynamics.
We are talking about browser developers Opera who, as the situation evolved, saw a window of opportunity to be able to provide an alternative to Safari based on AI in the context of iOS, as we will see later.
According to what was stated by Jona Bolin, Product Manager of the Opera browser for iOS, the change in regulations is something great, a huge opportunity for the browser. Although Opera will have to work on two distinct browser versions for iOS (one forUE and one for the rest of the world), according to Bolin there will still be an advantage with a new challenge for developers to face.
For Opera, the DMA can open a new market that was previously not accessible to external developers
In fact, under the pressure of the DMA, Apple had to open up to third-party browser engines for the first time, with the WebKit which was the only one allowed for iOS. The opening, in fact, will allow Opera to introduce its own proposal, offering an alternative to users.
Norwegian developers have already announced their intention to bring a new browser focused on Artificial Intelligence to iOS, i.e. Opera One. This will most likely be released over the next few months.
NEW BROWSER FOR iOS INCOMING!
Our new AI-centric Opera One browser will be built on its own engine, celebrating the opening of iOS to alternative browser engines. pic.twitter.com/GQdohWmp5W
— Opera (@opera) January 26, 2024
Bolin, in broad terms, demonstrated great optimism regarding the DMA which, in his hopes, could “put pressure” on Apple to open a market that had tended to exclude third-party developers.
The Product Manager finally concluded by confirming his impressions: “We also believe that (il DMA ndr.) could be a good test, so maybe Apple will realize that it’s working in its best interest too“.