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Apple announced a feature called “Sign in with Apple,” which is a way to log into apps without all the tracking that Facebook and Google do. Like many things Apple does, there are some big feelings. I wanted to jot down a few historical precedents that this reminds me of.
Pop-up blocking by default
In 2003, most websites you went to would throw up a bunch of pop-up ads and their evil cousins called “pop-unders.” Apple announced their new browser, called Safari 1.0, and it blocked these ads by default.
The industry was aghast. People talked about anti-competitive behaviour and abusing their power. People were still allowed to use other browsers, and besides, Safari had no market share. In the end, it hurt advertisers and was a better experience for customers.
No Flash on the iPhone
In 2007, Flash was very popular across the internet. Apple announced that their new device, called an iPhone, wouldn’t support Flash because of security issues, battery concerns, and the fact that Flash isn’t designed for touch screens and wouldn’t reliably work.
The industry was aghast. People talked about anti-competitive behaviour and abusing their power. People were still allowed to buy smartphones that supported Flash, and besides, iPhone had low market share. In the end, it hurt Flash content makers and was a better experience for customers.
A Curated iOS App Store
In 2008, it was assumed that any app could be installed on any device. Apple…
