[NTLK] Emulators on iPad & iPhone (hope for Newton OS?)

[Matthias Melcher]

> On 15. Jul 2024, at 23:25, Nic Malone via NewtonTalk <newtontalk at newtontalk.net> wrote:
> 
> This looks like an interesting development. - x86, PPC and RISC architecture emulation in the App Store (UTM SE).  Does Newton OS need some old ARM version support? Either way, it’s an encouraging development. I'm not sure if this is worldwide or just EU and UK.
> https://apps.apple.com/us/app/utm-se-retro-pc-emulator/id1564628856
> 
> Reported on Cult of Mac
> https://www.cultofmac.com/862444/first-pc-emulator-iphone-hits-app-store/?utm_source=newsletters.cultofmac.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=first-pc-emulator-hits-app-store

It's likely related to the European Union that decided a year ago that Apple's App Store violates EU competition rukes and threatened to fine Apple Billions if they continued to limit software distribution to their own store. In April this year, Apple was finally forced to allow apps from other sources as well, and as a side effect, they can no longer limit the the content of apps, which finally makes emulators possible. But (and there is always a "but", isn't there) third party app sources work only for devices in the EU (and GB?), plus those external apps can no longer be free. Apple charges the developer (IIRC?!) 50ct per downloaded app, and does not care how you get those 50ct from the person downloading. This is not a big issues for a niche program, but if something goes viral with unexpected millions of downloads, it may be devastating.

I am simplifying a lot here, not sure if all this is still the case. The EU and Apple are in constant quarrel. Just this month, the EU forced Apple to give access to their NFC, allowing other payment providers besides Apple Pay on the platform.

Anyway, for Einstein, this means, yeah, we can make it available for "free" on EU based iPhones and iPads, but not for the rest of the world (AFAIK). It also means that someone would have to go through the licensing process and offer the app on some platform.

Hoping this clarifies the iOS situation as I understood it. Maybe someone has newer information?

 - Matthias

PS: it's somewhat similar with the Android port. iOS and Android change a lot and quickly, and I can't keep up with their changes. I am trying to port Einstein to SDL2 or SDL3 eventually. Many games use that library which basically shield the game developer from the host operating system (good), but has other limitations (no buttons or other GUI).