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Apple Developer News:

In addition to using Apple’s convenient, safe, and secure in-app
purchase system, apps on the App Store in the United States that
offer in-app purchases can also use the StoreKit External
Purchase Link Entitlement (US) to include a link to the
developer’s website that informs users of other ways to purchase
digital goods or services. To use the entitlement, you’ll need to
submit a request, enable the entitlement in Xcode, and use
required StoreKit APIs. Apple will review your app to ensure it
complies with the terms and conditions of the entitlement, as
well as the App Store Review Guidelines and the Apple Developer
Program License Agreement. […]

Your app must offer in-app purchases in accordance with the
Developer Program License Agreement and App Store Review
Guidelines, and may not discourage end-users from making in-app
purchases.

Apple clearly had these updated guidelines ready to go, pending this week’s decision from the U.S. Supreme Court rejecting the remaining petitions from Apple and Epic.

Scroll down the page, then scroll some more, and you’ll get to the section on “Commission, transaction reports, and payments”:

Apple is charging a commission on digital purchases initiated
within seven days from link out, as described below. This will not
capture all transactions that Apple has facilitated through the
App Store, but is a reasonable means to account for the
substantial value Apple provides developers, including in
facilitating linked transactions.

Apple’s commission will be 27% on proceeds you earn from sales
(“transactions“) to the user for digital goods or services on your
website after a link out (i.e., they tap “Continue” on the system
disclosure sheet), provided that the sale was initiated within
seven days and the digital goods or services can be used in an
app. This includes (a) any applicable taxes and (b) any
adjustments for refunds, reversals and chargebacks. For
auto-renewing subscriptions, (i) a sale initiated, including with
a free trial or offer, within seven days after a link out is a
transaction; and (ii) each subsequent auto-renewal after the
subscription is initiated is also a transaction.]

If you’re a participant in the Small Business Program, or if the
transaction is an auto-renewal in the second year or later of an
auto-renewing subscription, the commission will be 12%.

These commission rates apply to all amounts paid by each user net
of transaction taxes charged by you. You will be responsible for
the collection and remittance of any applicable taxes for sales
processed by a third-party payment provider.

If you adopt this entitlement, you will be required to provide
transaction reports within 15 calendar days following the end of
each calendar month. Even if there were no transactions, you’re
required to provide a report stating that is the case.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again now, and I’m sure I’ll have to say it again in the future: Apple’s 30/15 percent commissions from App Store purchases and subscriptions are not payment processing fees. They include payment processing fees, but most of those commissions are, in Apple’s view, their way of monetizing their intellectual property. And they see the entire iOS platform as their IP.

So developers who want to process payments on their own websites are still on the hook to pay Apple the same effective commissions, minus only 3 percent for the actual payment processing. And the truth is most of the time credit card processing costs more than 3 percent overall, after chargebacks and fraud are taken into consideration. Do more work and save no money — sounds appealing, no?

See also: MacRumors has PDF copies of Apple’s “notice of compliance” filing, and App Store VP Matthew Fischer’s declaration of compliance, both submitted to Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.

 ★ 

Apple Developer News:

In addition to using Apple’s convenient, safe, and secure in-app
purchase system, apps on the App Store in the United States that
offer in-app purchases can also use the StoreKit External
Purchase Link Entitlement (US) to include a link to the
developer’s website that informs users of other ways to purchase
digital goods or services. To use the entitlement, you’ll need to
submit a request, enable the entitlement in Xcode, and use
required StoreKit APIs. Apple will review your app to ensure it
complies with the terms and conditions of the entitlement, as
well as the App Store Review Guidelines and the Apple Developer
Program License Agreement. […]

Your app must offer in-app purchases in accordance with the
Developer Program License Agreement and App Store Review
Guidelines, and may not discourage end-users from making in-app
purchases.

Apple clearly had these updated guidelines ready to go, pending this week’s decision from the U.S. Supreme Court rejecting the remaining petitions from Apple and Epic.

Scroll down the page, then scroll some more, and you’ll get to the section on “Commission, transaction reports, and payments”:

Apple is charging a commission on digital purchases initiated
within seven days from link out, as described below. This will not
capture all transactions that Apple has facilitated through the
App Store, but is a reasonable means to account for the
substantial value Apple provides developers, including in
facilitating linked transactions.

Apple’s commission will be 27% on proceeds you earn from sales
(“transactions“) to the user for digital goods or services on your
website after a link out (i.e., they tap “Continue” on the system
disclosure sheet), provided that the sale was initiated within
seven days and the digital goods or services can be used in an
app. This includes (a) any applicable taxes and (b) any
adjustments for refunds, reversals and chargebacks. For
auto-renewing subscriptions, (i) a sale initiated, including with
a free trial or offer, within seven days after a link out is a
transaction; and (ii) each subsequent auto-renewal after the
subscription is initiated is also a transaction.]

If you’re a participant in the Small Business Program, or if the
transaction is an auto-renewal in the second year or later of an
auto-renewing subscription, the commission will be 12%.

These commission rates apply to all amounts paid by each user net
of transaction taxes charged by you. You will be responsible for
the collection and remittance of any applicable taxes for sales
processed by a third-party payment provider.

If you adopt this entitlement, you will be required to provide
transaction reports within 15 calendar days following the end of
each calendar month. Even if there were no transactions, you’re
required to provide a report stating that is the case.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again now, and I’m sure I’ll have to say it again in the future: Apple’s 30/15 percent commissions from App Store purchases and subscriptions are not payment processing fees. They include payment processing fees, but most of those commissions are, in Apple’s view, their way of monetizing their intellectual property. And they see the entire iOS platform as their IP.

So developers who want to process payments on their own websites are still on the hook to pay Apple the same effective commissions, minus only 3 percent for the actual payment processing. And the truth is most of the time credit card processing costs more than 3 percent overall, after chargebacks and fraud are taken into consideration. Do more work and save no money — sounds appealing, no?

See also: MacRumors has PDF copies of Apple’s “notice of compliance” filing, and App Store VP Matthew Fischer’s declaration of compliance, both submitted to Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.

Read More 

Disney:

At launch, viewers can transform their space into one of four
Disney+ environments, bringing them even closer to the story. Each
environment includes animations and sounds that make the space
feel alive, and Easter eggs from films and franchises that will
surprise and delight fans.

Available only on Apple Vision Pro, Disney+ subscribers will be
able to stream the entire catalog — including thousands of TV
shows and films, plus access to Hulu content for eligible Disney
Bundle subscribers — from iconic environments with vivid details,
including: the Disney+ Theater, inspired by the historic El
Capitan Theatre in Hollywood; the Scare Floor from Pixar’s
Monsters Inc.; Marvel’s Avengers Tower overlooking downtown
Manhattan; and the cockpit of Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder facing
a binary sunset on the planet Tatooine from the Star Wars galaxy.

I got to try this during another hands-on Vision Pro demo in New York today. It’s 100 percent a gimmick, but it’s a really good fun whimsical gimmick, and the detail is extraordinary. It looks like you are there on Tony Stark’s helipad penthouse deck, with a towering view of Manhattan in front of you, and Stark’s apartment behind you. These are 360° environments. The Tatooine view in the landspeeder is right outside Mos Eisley, at dusk.

Does it make the movie you’re watching any better to see it while sitting in an immersive fantasy environment? No, of course not. But it’s a lot of fun, because it’s so intricately detailed and well-done. Did the Mac OS X Aqua user interface make Mac users more productive? Did the original iPhone work better because its interface looked so damn cool? No. But those UIs sure did make Mac OS X and the original iPhone more fun.

I don’t know why people lose sight of the fact that having fun is one of the very best parts of being a human. The Disney+ app for VisionOS is fun.

 ★ 

Disney:

At launch, viewers can transform their space into one of four
Disney+ environments, bringing them even closer to the story. Each
environment includes animations and sounds that make the space
feel alive, and Easter eggs from films and franchises that will
surprise and delight fans.

Available only on Apple Vision Pro, Disney+ subscribers will be
able to stream the entire catalog — including thousands of TV
shows and films, plus access to Hulu content for eligible Disney
Bundle subscribers — from iconic environments with vivid details,
including: the Disney+ Theater, inspired by the historic El
Capitan Theatre in Hollywood; the Scare Floor from Pixar’s
Monsters Inc.; Marvel’s Avengers Tower overlooking downtown
Manhattan; and the cockpit of Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder facing
a binary sunset on the planet Tatooine from the Star Wars galaxy.

I got to try this during another hands-on Vision Pro demo in New York today. It’s 100 percent a gimmick, but it’s a really good fun whimsical gimmick, and the detail is extraordinary. It looks like you are there on Tony Stark’s helipad penthouse deck, with a towering view of Manhattan in front of you, and Stark’s apartment behind you. These are 360° environments. The Tatooine view in the landspeeder is right outside Mos Eisley, at dusk.

Does it make the movie you’re watching any better to see it while sitting in an immersive fantasy environment? No, of course not. But it’s a lot of fun, because it’s so intricately detailed and well-done. Did the Mac OS X Aqua user interface make Mac users more productive? Did the original iPhone work better because its interface looked so damn cool? No. But those UIs sure did make Mac OS X and the original iPhone more fun.

I don’t know why people lose sight of the fact that having fun is one of the very best parts of being a human. The Disney+ app for VisionOS is fun.

Read More 

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney:

The Supreme Court denied both sides’ appeals of the Epic v. Apple
antitrust case. The court battle to open iOS to competing stores
and payments is lost in the United States. A sad outcome for all
developers.

Now the District Court’s injunction against Apple’s anti-steering
rule is in effect, and developers can include in their apps
“buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct
customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to IAP”.

As of today, developers can begin exercising their
court-established right to tell US customers about better prices
on the web.

It’s sad for Epic, perhaps, and game developers in general, but I think overall this is a good day for developers, and a great day for users. In-app game purchases are already too predatory, as things stand — they’d get far worse if games on iOS were free to circumvent Apple’s system. If a developer wants users to sign up and pay on their website, they can now tell them so, in plain language, in the app.

The truth should never be against the rules. If you need to pay/subscribe on the app’s website, the app should be able to tell you that you need to pay/subscribe on their website.

 ★ 

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney:

The Supreme Court denied both sides’ appeals of the Epic v. Apple
antitrust case. The court battle to open iOS to competing stores
and payments is lost in the United States. A sad outcome for all
developers.

Now the District Court’s injunction against Apple’s anti-steering
rule is in effect, and developers can include in their apps
“buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct
customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to IAP”.

As of today, developers can begin exercising their
court-established right to tell US customers about better prices
on the web.

It’s sad for Epic, perhaps, and game developers in general, but I think overall this is a good day for developers, and a great day for users. In-app game purchases are already too predatory, as things stand — they’d get far worse if games on iOS were free to circumvent Apple’s system. If a developer wants users to sign up and pay on their website, they can now tell them so, in plain language, in the app.

The truth should never be against the rules. If you need to pay/subscribe on the app’s website, the app should be able to tell you that you need to pay/subscribe on their website.

Read More 

Adi Robertson, reporting for The Verge:

The Supreme Court has denied a request to hear an antitrust
dispute between Apple and Fortnite publisher Epic Games. It
rejected two petitions, one from each company, this
morning — leaving the case largely, but not entirely, a win for
Apple. […]

Even so, both rulings found that Apple had acted
anticompetitively by barring developers from telling users about
other payment methods. Apple was ordered to let them allow links
and other “calls to action” that would bypass Apple’s payment
system, discontinuing what are known as anti-steering policies.
But the company spent years delaying parts of the change with
legal appeals, winning a reprieve while the Supreme Court
considered the case. Today’s denial seemingly runs out that
clock, requiring Apple to reconsider the future of its
anti-steering rules.

Apple’s intransigence on these anti-steering provisions has long baffled me. I’ve consistently argued that the rules should be simple: apps that want to accept in-app payments must use Apple’s IAP system, but apps should be free to inform users that they can sign up and pay on the web, outside the app. In-app: Apple’s platform, Apple’s payments system. Out-app: the open web, and apps should be able to steer customers there. If Apple’s in-app purchasing system is so easy to use, so reasonably priced for its benefits, and so trusted by users, it should be able to compete openly with the web. And I think Apple’s in-app payments do compare favorably to leaving an app to pay on the web, especially for games. But with true competition from web purchases that apps can steer users to, Apple’s commission rates, for apps other than games at least, would probably be lower. I’d argue that it’s unhealthy for a company to grow dependent on unnaturally high commissions protected by fiat policies, rather than set through open competition.

Perhaps Apple’s thinking was that they might as well try to hold the line on these anti-steering provisions for as long as they could, thinking that today’s outcome was the worst case scenario. But I think it’s been a bad look for the company for years, and invited additional regulatory scrutiny. Regardless of whether these anti-steering provisions are legally anticompetitive, they’re undeniably anticompetitive in the plain sense of the word. I genuinely believe the Supreme Court has done Apple a favor letting this ruling stand.

 ★ 

Adi Robertson, reporting for The Verge:

The Supreme Court has denied a request to hear an antitrust
dispute between Apple and Fortnite publisher Epic Games. It
rejected two petitions, one from each company, this
morning — leaving the case largely, but not entirely, a win for
Apple. […]

Even so, both rulings found that Apple had acted
anticompetitively by barring developers from telling users about
other payment methods. Apple was ordered to let them allow links
and other “calls to action” that would bypass Apple’s payment
system, discontinuing what are known as anti-steering policies.
But the company spent years delaying parts of the change with
legal appeals, winning a reprieve while the Supreme Court
considered the case. Today’s denial seemingly runs out that
clock, requiring Apple to reconsider the future of its
anti-steering rules.

Apple’s intransigence on these anti-steering provisions has long baffled me. I’ve consistently argued that the rules should be simple: apps that want to accept in-app payments must use Apple’s IAP system, but apps should be free to inform users that they can sign up and pay on the web, outside the app. In-app: Apple’s platform, Apple’s payments system. Out-app: the open web, and apps should be able to steer customers there. If Apple’s in-app purchasing system is so easy to use, so reasonably priced for its benefits, and so trusted by users, it should be able to compete openly with the web. And I think Apple’s in-app payments do compare favorably to leaving an app to pay on the web, especially for games. But with true competition from web purchases that apps can steer users to, Apple’s commission rates, for apps other than games at least, would probably be lower. I’d argue that it’s unhealthy for a company to grow dependent on unnaturally high commissions protected by fiat policies, rather than set through open competition.

Perhaps Apple’s thinking was that they might as well try to hold the line on these anti-steering provisions for as long as they could, thinking that today’s outcome was the worst case scenario. But I think it’s been a bad look for the company for years, and invited additional regulatory scrutiny. Regardless of whether these anti-steering provisions are legally anticompetitive, they’re undeniably anticompetitive in the plain sense of the word. I genuinely believe the Supreme Court has done Apple a favor letting this ruling stand.

Read More 

Apple Newsroom, with some new content information for Vision Pro (finally):

With Apple Vision Pro, users can experience Apple Immersive
Video, a remarkable new entertainment format pioneered by Apple.
Apple Immersive Video features 180-degree 3D 8K recordings
captured with Spatial Audio to transport viewers to the center of
a place, moment, or story. At launch, users can enjoy a curated
selection of immersive films and series on the Apple TV app at
no additional cost.

That link has details about the debut titles:

Alicia Keys: Rehearsal Room
Adventure — adventure athletes in exotic locations
Wild Life
Prehistoric Planet Immersive — “Viewers will transport into the daily lives of dinosaurs, experiencing T-Rex teens crashing a quiet colony of pterosaurs on the beach until mama shows up to break up their party, and an intense battle between raptors and a pride of Triceratops in the forest.”

There’s only a handful of these new immersive experiences, but the main thrust of the Newsroom announcement is to emphasize that Vision Pro is a killer device for watching any movies or TV shows.

 ★ 

Apple Newsroom, with some new content information for Vision Pro (finally):

With Apple Vision Pro, users can experience Apple Immersive
Video, a remarkable new entertainment format pioneered by Apple.
Apple Immersive Video features 180-degree 3D 8K recordings
captured with Spatial Audio to transport viewers to the center of
a place, moment, or story. At launch, users can enjoy a curated
selection of immersive films and series on the Apple TV app at
no additional cost.

That link has details about the debut titles:

Alicia Keys: Rehearsal Room
Adventure — adventure athletes in exotic locations
Wild Life
Prehistoric Planet Immersive — “Viewers will transport into the daily lives of dinosaurs, experiencing T-Rex teens crashing a quiet colony of pterosaurs on the beach until mama shows up to break up their party, and an intense battle between raptors and a pride of Triceratops in the forest.”

There’s only a handful of these new immersive experiences, but the main thrust of the Newsroom announcement is to emphasize that Vision Pro is a killer device for watching any movies or TV shows.

Read More 

Ben Schoon, writing for 9to5Mac:

For a case built for this express purpose, the keys are crucial to
get right, and Clicks has nailed it, I think. The keys are rounded
and have a bit of space in between each one, but the layout
overall feels familiar and well done. The keyboard layout is also
specifically designed to be really similar to the default iOS
keyboard, which makes it feel all the more familiar.

Each key is also backlit and has an excellent tactile response.
That’s the aspect I was most concerned about, and while some of
the pre-production models were a little rough, the final version
that I was able to test during my hands-on (not pictured) felt
perfect. It was clicky and tactile without being loud or too
hard to press. […]

In my brief time using it, I’m very much of the opinion that
Clicks is pretty much as good as this concept can be. It’s
well-designed, comfortable to use, and hits all of the right
notes.

 ★ 

Ben Schoon, writing for 9to5Mac:

For a case built for this express purpose, the keys are crucial to
get right, and Clicks has nailed it, I think. The keys are rounded
and have a bit of space in between each one, but the layout
overall feels familiar and well done. The keyboard layout is also
specifically designed to be really similar to the default iOS
keyboard, which makes it feel all the more familiar.

Each key is also backlit and has an excellent tactile response.
That’s the aspect I was most concerned about, and while some of
the pre-production models were a little rough, the final version
that I was able to test during my hands-on (not pictured) felt
perfect. It was clicky and tactile without being loud or too
hard to press. […]

In my brief time using it, I’m very much of the opinion that
Clicks is pretty much as good as this concept can be. It’s
well-designed, comfortable to use, and hits all of the right
notes.

Read More 

My thanks to Meh for sponsoring last week at DF. Meh is probably the best — and certainly the funnest — daily deal site on the web. Here’s their pitch, in their words:

You don’t want the daily deal at meh.com today.

At least, you probably don’t, statistically speaking. But you
should go look. Because if you do want it, you really want it, at
least for this price. And the cost of checking is, what, 15
seconds of your life?

So go to meh.com. Decide you don’t want what we’re selling. Go
back tomorrow. That’s the whole game.

 ★ 

My thanks to Meh for sponsoring last week at DF. Meh is probably the best — and certainly the funnest — daily deal site on the web. Here’s their pitch, in their words:

You don’t want the daily deal at meh.com today.

At least, you probably don’t, statistically speaking. But you
should go look. Because if you do want it, you really want it, at
least for this price. And the cost of checking is, what, 15
seconds of your life?

So go to meh.com. Decide you don’t want what we’re selling. Go
back tomorrow. That’s the whole game.

Read More 

Brian McCullough had me and Chris Messina on the weekend edition of the excellent Techmeme Ride Home podcast to talk about Vision Pro’s launch (and for me and Chris to argue about hashtags). Fun show. You can even watch on YouTube if that’s your thing.

 ★ 

Brian McCullough had me and Chris Messina on the weekend edition of the excellent Techmeme Ride Home podcast to talk about Vision Pro’s launch (and for me and Chris to argue about hashtags). Fun show. You can even watch on YouTube if that’s your thing.

Read More 

It’s just not clear at all exactly what Apple needs to allow to comply with the DMA, nor do any of us outside Cupertino have any idea what Apple plans to do.

European Commission chief Margrethe Vestager is on the West Coast meeting with U.S. tech executives. Here’s her entire statement on meeting Tim Cook at Apple Park, posted on Twitter/X (I’m surprised she posts on a U.S.-based platform, rather than one of the popular E.U. social networks):

2 main points from my meeting w/ @tim_cook @apple ⬇️

👉 compliance w/ #DMA, e.g. @Apple’s obligation to allow the
distribution of #apps outside the @AppStore

👉 ongoing @EU_Competition cases e.g. @AppleMusic

There are so many meetings and negotiations where I’d pay a veritable fortune to have been a fly on the wall. Vestager meeting with Cook this week was not one. My guess is that absolutely nothing interesting was said. Nothing but platitudes.

The deadline for compliance with the DMA is March 7, and the big issue for Apple is the App Store: allowing native apps to be installed from outside the store (a.k.a. sideloading), and allowing alternative in-app payment methods. My understanding is that Apple has everything prepared for compliance, but, exactly what that’s going to look like, seemingly no one outside the company knows.

We know nothing about how Apple plans to allow sideloading. I presume, even for users in the E.U., sideloading will be off by default, just like it is on the Mac. I also expect that, unlike the Mac, sideloaded apps will still need to be signed by Apple. Will apps distributed through the App Store allow third-party in-app payment processing, or will that only be available to sideloaded apps? I further presume, that just like when Apple complied with Dutch regulations specific to dating apps, third-party apps that implement their own payment processing for in-app purchases will be required to provide Apple with detailed accounting and pay Apple a 27% commission.

Will sideloading only be available within the E.U., or will Apple implement the same policies worldwide? For the most part Apple tries to keep things the same worldwide, but sideloading is such an exception that I expect them to region-lock it to the E.U. Especially given that stipulation that Apple needs to permit sideloaded apps to act as app stores themselves. How is that going to work?

I expect that Apple has designed sideloading in such a way that very few users will enable it. (This seems to be largely the case on Android, which has permitted off-by-default sideloading from its inception.) I also expect that Apple will still demand 27% of in-app purchase revenue from apps that choose to implement their own payment processing.

Basically, I don’t think much will change for E.U. users, or for developers. But a lot of people — including Vestager and the European Commission — expect a lot to change. It’s just not clear at all exactly what Apple needs to allow to comply with the DMA, nor do any of us outside Cupertino have any idea what Apple plans to do. Complying with the letter of the DMA does not mean capitulating to the spirit of the DMA. The idea that Apple is going to roll over and give up on steering their own platform the way they feel best benefits both their own bottom line, and their users’ experience/privacy/security, is naive.

The European Commission expected that the GDPR would result in websites prioritizing the privacy of E.U. users — a better web in Europe than elsewhere. Instead, the result was increased user annoyance under a nonstop daily barrage of consent popovers — a worse web in Europe than elsewhere. I suspect the same will prove true of the DMA and mobile platforms. Fireworks are coming, but it seems like few people know it.

Read More 

Pete Muntean, reporting for CNN:

The Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday that after
reviewing Boeing’s instructions for inspecting grounded 737 Max 9
planes, it has decided to seek more information before allowing
the plan to proceed. In a statement, FAA also said it would keep
the Boeing 737 Max 9 “grounded until extensive inspection and
maintenance is conducted and data from inspections is reviewed.”

The announcement comes exactly one week after the dramatic
in-flight incident on Alaska Airlines flight 1282, when a part
called a door plug was blown off the side of the plane. […] 171
of the planes remain grounded in the United States as airlines
Alaska and United await updated emergency inspection guidance from
the FAA.

The FAA, yesterday:

After taking decisive and immediate action to ground approximately
171 Boeing 737-9 MAX planes, the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) today announced new and significant actions to immediately
increase its oversight of Boeing production and manufacturing.
These actions come one day after the FAA formally notified Boeing
that the FAA has launched an investigation into the company as a
result of last Friday’s incident on a Boeing Model 737-9 MAX in
which the aircraft lost a passenger door plug while in flight.

Something has gone deeply wrong at Boeing, a once-great company. This is exactly the sort of situation where government regulators are needed: for issues pertaining to safety.

 ★ 

Pete Muntean, reporting for CNN:

The Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday that after
reviewing Boeing’s instructions for inspecting grounded 737 Max 9
planes, it has decided to seek more information before allowing
the plan to proceed. In a statement, FAA also said it would keep
the Boeing 737 Max 9 “grounded until extensive inspection and
maintenance is conducted and data from inspections is reviewed.”

The announcement comes exactly one week after the dramatic
in-flight incident on Alaska Airlines flight 1282, when a part
called a door plug was blown off the side of the plane. […] 171
of the planes remain grounded in the United States as airlines
Alaska and United await updated emergency inspection guidance from
the FAA.

The FAA, yesterday:

After taking decisive and immediate action to ground approximately
171 Boeing 737-9 MAX planes, the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) today announced new and significant actions to immediately
increase its oversight of Boeing production and manufacturing.
These actions come one day after the FAA formally notified Boeing
that the FAA has launched an investigation into the company as a
result of last Friday’s incident on a Boeing Model 737-9 MAX in
which the aircraft lost a passenger door plug while in flight.

Something has gone deeply wrong at Boeing, a once-great company. This is exactly the sort of situation where government regulators are needed: for issues pertaining to safety.

Read More