I think there’s a bit of language confusion in the article there (‘search engine’ etc), but I’m very interested to see if they make Google allow other app stores to act like first-class citizens, instead of heavily restricting them, even if the user does everything they can to allow them to install and maintain apps.

As for Apple… I would probably have been an iPhone owner long ago if they weren’t so heavily restricted. I like their products, just not their refusal to allow apps that didn’t come from their store.

But android has sideloading since forever… Although I agree apple needs to change.

Probably a provision in place to prevent Google from locking Android down.

I thought Google already allowed it. I’ve been able to sideload on my Japanese Android 10 device with no issues. Did they lock it, or is it being removed by the networks/manufacturers?