The iPhone liberation

Hey y’all. A new gaming app is showing what iPhone life could be like without a walled garden around it, if only Apple eased more of its rul [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( [by Austin Carr]( Hey y’all. A new gaming app is showing what iPhone life could be like without a walled garden around it, if only Apple eased more of its rules. But first... Three things you need to know today: • TikTok parent ByteDance now [has China’s most popular AI chatbot]( • Read our report on the struggle to [bring alternative app stores to iOS]( • OpenAI had a bot that sounded [a little too much like Scarlett Johansson]( Emulating a freer life In recent weeks, I’ve been having a blast with Delta, a new app that enables users to play retro video games from their iPhone. With Delta, I can load up classic Nintendo games like Super Mario World and even GoldenEye 007 as if I was back on a couch in the 1990s, getting mozzarella stick grease all over my console controllers. Services of this kind, called emulators, have long existed on computers, but until recently Apple Inc. barred them on its mobile iOS platform. Then, abruptly last month, Apple announced it would end the ban and permit retro emulators on its App Store. Delta launched on the iPhone about two weeks later. After all these years, Apple’s about-face on this specific rule wasn’t random. In fact, Delta’s creators were gearing up to launch their gaming service on their [third-party marketplace in the European Union](, where new [regulations have obligated Apple]( to allow users to download software outside its official App Store. It hardly seems coincidental that Apple would have a eureka about emulators on the eve of one rolling out in a rival app marketplace. (An Apple spokesperson did not provide an explanation for the timing of the rule change.) For [a slew of wonky reasons]( related to Apple’s shifting policies, Delta is now available through a separate digital storefront that’s downloadable for a fee in the EU—while entirely free on Apple’s App Store in the rest of the world. While it’s very likely Apple was trying to undercut Delta’s EU premiere on iOS, the app’s developer Riley Testut told me he’s happy if his startup’s strategy ultimately forced Apple to change its platform restrictions. “I think we’re going to see Apple start to allow more and more types of apps it wouldn’t before because other stores now exist,” he said. “That competition is going to pressure Apple.” Mashing virtual buttons on Delta myself has been refreshingly liberating, a reminder of what software can dawn from a more open ecosystem. I’ve been so conditioned as a longtime iPhone user to expect certain styles of programs to be prohibited that I almost felt guilty playing old-school Pokémon or my beloved Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey Jr. on Delta’s Nintendo emulators, as if Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook might chastise me for the indiscretion at any moment. It’s funny that software that has been accessible for decades from the web or basically any PC now feels like the future of the iPhone. Apple has maintained that its platform rules are vital to keeping its operating system clean and secure. Yet in the case of Delta and other upcoming iOS emulators, those rules now seem especially arbitrary — not crafted with judicious logic but because, well, Apple chose to make them forbidding. Sure, it’s possible Apple had concerns about copyright issues related to Nintendo emulators on its App Store — they have generally fallen into a legal gray area — but the larger problem is that Apple’s reasons for banning them before and allowing them now remain opaque. Apple notes in its app guidelines that developers are responsible for ensuring software offered in emulators complies with all applicable laws. A Nintendo Co. representative referred questions to the [Entertainment Software Association](, an advocacy group for the video game industry. “Illegal circumvention of copyright protections or engaging in copyright piracy stifles innovation and hampers the development of entertainment experiences,” an ESA spokesperson said. Perhaps a similar dynamic will play out with other iPhone software arriving in Europe thanks to EU regulations. Since the advent of the App Store, Apple has denied apps from its ecosystem because it disagreed with their designs, their business models or their overall purpose. Now those services considered too taboo in Cupertino could soon have a testing ground in alternative marketplaces in the EU. In a sign of the demand for services Apple has historically outlawed, Delta quickly shot up the rankings in late April in the US ahead of ChatGPT and TikTok to become the No. 1 free app. “Apple seems to be loosening their controlling grip on your phone,” one reviewer said in the App Store. Another wrote, “Just a month ago no one could have imagined that Delta would be downloadable directly from the app store. Like a freakin Christmas in the Spring miracle.” —[Austin Carr](mailto:acarr54@bloomberg.net) The big story Snap is turning to artificial intelligence as its next stage of evolution and growth, after a multiyear effort by CEO Evan Spiegel to [overhaul the social media company’s ads business.]( One to watch [Watch VSCO Chief Executive Officer Eric Wittman interviewed on Bloomberg Television about the platform for photographers and visual storytellers.]( Get fully charged Chinese EV makers are feeling the pressure of the country’s [cutthroat auto market.]( Elon Musk launched Starlink internet services [in Indonesia on Sunday.]( The UK plans to push private tech businesses on ensuring AI safety at [a major summit in Seoul this week.]( More from Bloomberg Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends - [Q&AI]( for answers to all your questions about AI Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? 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