The world’s leading technology brands, Facebook and Microsoft, recently bashed Apple for its restrictive App Store policies, which they claim prevents them from launching their gaming services on Apple devices.

Microsoft also disclosed that it will no longer be launching a limited testing version of the app on iOS. The gaming platform Microsoft had created for Apple devices can only support one game, which Microsoft said was due to Apple’s App Store policies.

READ MORE: Apple, Facebook record impressive earning results in spite of COVID-19 disruptions

Microsoft’s concern

Microsoft revealed that such policies set by Apple will make it unable to launch its game streaming service commercially on iOS due to these limitations.

“Unfortunately, we do not have a path to bring our vision of cloud gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to gamers on iOS via the Apple App Store,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement Friday.

“Apple stands alone as the only general-purpose platform to deny consumers from cloud gaming and game subscription services like Xbox Game Pass. And it consistently treats gaming apps differently, applying more lenient rules to non-gaming apps even when they include interactive content.”

READ ALSO: Facebook rivals TikTok with launch of video-sharing product inside instagram

Facebook’s concern

The social media giant finally struggled to launch an Apple version of its gaming app on Friday, but it disclosed that it was compelled to make a concession to bring it on Apple’s App Store and had to remove the ability to play games instantly.

“Unfortunately, we had to remove gameplay functionality entirely in order to get Apple’s approval on the standalone Facebook Gaming app – meaning iOS users have an inferior experience to those using Android,” Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in a statement Friday.

“We’re staying focused on building communities for the more than 380 million people who play games on Facebook every month — whether Apple allows it in a standalone app or not.”

Microsoft and Facebook seem not to be the only ones facing challenges in bringing cloud gaming services on iOS devices. Google’s Stadia and Nvidia’s GeForce had also experienced difficulties in launching iOS versions of their apps due to the App Store’s guidelines.

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Will Apple cave in?

“There is quite a lot of pressure building from different entities, and they are attempting to build consumer awareness of the issues involved as a way to convince Apple to change its policies,” Piers Harding-Rolls, research director of games at Ampere Analysis, told CNBC.

“Is it inevitable that Apple will cave in? Not necessarily. Apple is plowing its own path with privacy and how it wants to manage its ecosystem.”

China’s tech industry is having a rough time right now. The stock price of China’s tech juggernaut, Tencent, lost 5.04% on Friday morning after America’s President Donald Trump issued executive orders targeting TikTok and WeChat.

The Hang Seng Tech index, which tracks the 30 largest technology companies listed in Hong Kong that pass the screening criteria, also fell 2.51% to close at 7,386.66. On Mainland China, the Nasdaq-style start-up board Chinext slipped 2.065% on the day to about 3,059.87.

Note that WeChat, which belongs to Tencent, and TikTok whose parent company is ByteDance, are both based in China.

READ MORE: President Trump dumps plan to force foreign students to leave the US

What happened: President Trump, yesterday, issued directives banning any U.S. transactions with the Chinese tech firms —Tencent and ByteDance. The ban will take effect in 45 days and could attract retaliation from the Chinese.

According to Trump, WeChat “automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information.” He went on to say that the application also captures personal information of Chinese nationals visiting the U.S.

READ ALSO: TikTok to relocate headquarters to London following approval by UK ministers

China’s response: China’s foreign officials disclosed on Friday at a media briefing that it was strongly against President Trump’s executive orders. It said that China will defend the legitimate rights and business interests of China according to foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.

Reportedly, Facebook has identified a new era of opportunity to further spread its tentacles in the world’s second largest internet market – India. Few weeks back, the social media giant announced that it had partnered with the Central Board of Secondary Education, a government body that oversees education in private and public schools in India to launch a certified curriculum on digital safety and online well-being, and augmented reality for students and educators in the country.

The goal is to prepare secondary school students for current and emerging jobs and help them develop viable skills. This will be divided in various phases according to Facebook.

The Phases:

1. More than 10,000 teachers will be trained.
2. These teachers will coach 30,000 students.

Reportedly, the CBSE brochure read “To further their commitment towards digital inclusion and digital empowerment, CBSE and Facebook have partnered to launch curriculum and related training in Augmented Reality, Digital Safety &Online Well-Being and introduce Instagram Toolkit for Teens,”.

Basically, with Facebook there will be an online programme for augmented reality, while with Instagram there will be a workshop on the usage time of the photo-sharing platform and how students and teacher can stay on these platforms.

(READ MORE:COVID-19: FG plans safe school reopening, as WHO discloses new guides to contain virus)

Could This Be What the Nigerian Educational System Needs?

The Nigerian educational sector has its shortcomings and with this pandemic came an alarming number of students stuck at home with no way to carry on learning. Education in this country has always been big business, from elite private schools to affordable options which are barely better than public schools. In the last few years, digital innovators and entrepreneurs have launched startups like uLessons among others to try to keep educating Nigerian students. These platforms have connected tutors/teachers to learners. However, we cannot determine the true impact of these efforts seeing as the country experiences many setbacks to fully enable online learning:

1. Underfunding- this is sadly a common factor that affects the advancement of education not only in Nigeria but in Africa.
2. Costing- the price of smartphones and other devices as well as mobile internet creates such a gap in these parts. Thankfully, there is the pre-recorded model which may factually not be as effective as learning in real-time but does offer a cheaper option.

The past few weeks have been saturated with debates of whether or not schools are ready to reopen. The Government reportedly agreed to a partial reopening with laid out rules for if they do decide that schools across the country can safely reopen their doors to students. No doubt, the urgency is understandable especially for students in graduating classes but with the unrelenting rise in coronavirus cases, many are against this happening.

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In a hypothetical world where a tech giant like Facebook decides to partner with the Federal Ministry of Education, the benefits could be limitless:

1. Providing children the digital skills to stay relevant in an evolving world.
2. Personalized learning- helps children learn at the best place for them.
3. Possibly boost motivation to learn- students will be more actively engaged when learning digitally.
4. Improve fibre connectivity across the country.
5. Promoting inclusive education- everyone is involved and active in the educating process.
6. Increased learning opportunities as distance is no longer a hindering factor.
7. Collaborative learning- this powers transparent and accurate communication between learners and teachers.

Whether the Nigerian educational system needs help from tech giants or not is not the main concern but still, the answer is – the system should welcome help no matter where it emanates from because in the end our students bear the brunt of our shortcomings.