The Earth is a beautiful blue sphere, with endless oceans and continents bathed in its waters. Forests cover the land like a vivid green blanket—a precious trove of knowledge and beauty.

The web is the digital reflection of this blue sphere. Websites are hubs of entertainment and information, much like busy cities. Like roads, links connect the web, facilitating the free flow of information and guiding us to destinations just waiting to be discovered. Similar to expansive forests, web APIs and standards allow life to breathe new life into our digital world.

However, a conflict between Apple and the EU is currently spilling into the forest.

Steve Jobs was essentially a web pioneer ¹ who had an open web-based vision for the future of technology. There was no App Store when Steve introduced the original iPhone in 2007. Following the final slide at the iPhone's launch, he presented ² an original idea of web applications.

Jobs had struggles with reaching his online vision. Because he felt that Flash was a threat to the web's security, he famously declared war against it. Jobs attacked Flash in his open letter, Thoughts on Flash, for being ineffective, closed, and unsafe. He supported open web technologies such as JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS.

However, Steve's initial excitement was brief and ignored the growing need for native applications to be part of a Safari-based environment. Apple provided an SDK for making native iOS apps in a couple of days. The rest is history: a certain control over the mobile application ecosystem.

There are new challenges facing our digital forest today. As Apple's control over its ecosystem has increased, once-open paths have been transformed into guarded trails. The European Union takes action against these barriers by pushing for a return to equal access and open standards.

With the iOS 17.4 release, Apple revealed that they had opened alternative ways of distribution and created more than 600 new APIs in order to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA). But something unexpected happened. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), had to work outside of their own frame. It quickly became apparent that this was not a bug, and Apple blamed the EU—the DMA—for this.

Because of security concerns, iOS, that is based on the WebKit design, has certain limitations and isolation. According to Apple, they stopped PWAs since they might introduce vulnerabilities, at least for countries in the EU. This situation brought to mind an article I published titled “Is Apple a Monopoly?” almost nine years ago. In part, this control led to the priority of iOS-powered devices such as the iPad and Apple Watch.

Apple made the decision to let PWAs function under their own framework in the upcoming version of iOS after receiving a lot of feedback. PWAs are still important for the future of the web.

The development of new concepts and technological advancements should be encouraged by the internet's core. This was supported by Steve Jobs, who supported an innovative and open web. But in other areas, the forest he helped create is being walled off and changing its paths. The conflict between Apple and the EU is about more than just economics; it is about the regulations that regulate our digital world.

The secret is finding a balance between power and freedom, security and openness. We can ensure that the forest remains a place where people can live and develop, where innovation isn't limited by barriers but rather driven by the limitless potential of the open web, by returning to the roots established by pioneers like Jobs.

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1. Make Something Wonderful was published in April 2023, the book collects Steve Jobs’ thoughts, philosophies, and early vision of the modern web.

2. Steve Jobs introducing PWA in 2007.

3. MOW is a global organization that deeply cares about the future of the World Wide Web, of which I am also a part.