> I can quickly and easily make an app for myself and my family that works without having to provision their devices or pay a dev license to Apple. I also use it at work for internal apps.
This is exactly why they don't want it. Some will say it's because those are Apple's users and Apple wants to ensure a great user experience and doesn't want unapproved things running on their devices, and others will say it's because it skips Apple's 30% take and their gatekeeping process. My opinion is that both are true, and conveniently both are achieved the same way: by making PWAs enough of an annoyance to both developers and users that they will voluntarily steer away from them. Classic game theory
I often say that the only reason email is in the form it is today is because it happened before corporate interests took over communication.
If it had been invented today you could only iMessage other iDevice holders. Maybe you would also have had another for-profit middleware company just to deliver messages between Apple and Android devices. Something like a telephone exchange.
In one of the movies about Steve Jobs, he actually does want to make email proprietary and to only be able to send and receive emails on Macs. There was also talk (involving Bill Gates IIRC) about having an electronic stamp (basically a charge for email).
I very much agree, if it were invented today there's no way it would be an open standard. It almost wasn't even back then.
And what do you say to those who point out that Apple has invested significantly in supporting PWAs the last 4 years or so?
To the point that PWA support matches, and in some cases surpasses, Firefox with more on the way as we speak?
Doesn’t that run counter to this theory that Apple is purposefully making PWAs unviable to the benefit of their App Store?
Why take away the biggest hurdles that PWAs had on iOS if that was the goal?
This is exactly why they don't want it. Some will say it's because those are Apple's users and Apple wants to ensure a great user experience and doesn't want unapproved things running on their devices, and others will say it's because it skips Apple's 30% take and their gatekeeping process. My opinion is that both are true, and conveniently both are achieved the same way: by making PWAs enough of an annoyance to both developers and users that they will voluntarily steer away from them. Classic game theory