Apple Challenges 'Unprecedented' €500M EU Fine Over App Store Steering Rules

[wbeasley]

Nothing illegal in protecting one's business. The customer makes a purchase. If they don't like it, they can return it for a full refund, and never have to purchase it again. The fact that the EU does not have a domestic OS/Phone manufacture is its OWN FAULT. And, its citizens picked which they liked. Hence the situation.

Build another version of Android or make a new one based on any one of these linux OS's and make your own alternative.

EU still smarting over the failing of Nokia it seems...

All was well when they ruled the closed, locked phone market.

But a new player came in and connected better with customers.
Then Nokia did some dodgy deal with Microsoft.
And then disappeared until the brand re-emerged as a badged Android device. Ouch.

 

[wbeasley]

I am invested in a platform where a malicious foreign entity (EU) is trying to change its fundamentals out of pure spite. If Apple also gives in, There will be no walled garden ecosystem and I might be forced to cease using a smartphone. EU is literally stealing the values and features (the walled garden ecosystem that is tightly vetted) so they are complicit in theft. A "third party app store" or a "sideloading" enjoyer can always buy an android, but if EU forces Apple to open up too, it's over for people who do not want these features or who know the malicious outcomes this opening up can bring (look at the vast world of Android viruses..)

EU is forcing Apple to give up on platform security, and putting millions of families (and kids) that uses iOS in danger because

1) Little Hans from deutschland wants to play fortnite or install some obscure stuff on their iPhones,
2) EU knowing that this walled garden ecosystem is fundamental to Apple's mobile platforms, forces Apple to pay fines periodically becuase they know Apple can't easily change stuff.

This is theft at it's finest. Theft from me and millions of people who buy Apple devices BECAUSE of their secure walled garden platform, and theft from Apple, inhibiting them from investing more in r&d, stiffling innovation out of PURE SPITE.

How about you spend all that energy in your own mobile platform that would have whatever rules and regulations you want, instead of coercing a company and extorting them out of cash. You don't even have to build from the start, either take AOSP or any other linux distro and build on top of it.

notice how EU dont care about opening up console machines that are equally controlled as Apple - in fact, more controlled.

could it be that if they tried to enforce that, residents would just buy devices and games online and the EU wouldnt know how to identify them and couldnt get a cut of hardware sales as tax?

it's plain double standards.

if hardware should be open then ALL hardware should play by the same rules.
they can dictate a $10 rechargeable light has to have USB C then they can do consoles as well.

 

[wbeasley]

Yes. Yes they should.

The attack on general purpose computing is horrible.

iOS devices were never pitched as general purpose computing devices.

Apple ran "what's a computer?" ads.

but it still didnt claim they were general purpose computers.
just that they could do many tasks a regular computer could do.
in fact, with biometrics they do banking and payments better than computers.

from day one they were designed to be controlled by Apple.
everyone knew that when buying.
if after 15 years you dont know that, return the device for a refund.

 

[DocMultimedia]

iPhone 26 EU will be coming out next. It won't allow loading of anything other than your own music you download from Napster.

Go EU. Have fun with Droids.

 

[The_Gream]

EU has a grudge against Apple. They probably want Apple to cease it's entire EU operations and leave the European Market forever.

Well, when you are (not single handedly) the company who releases a smartphone that works and create a whole new market, which drives the one dominant EU cellphone maker into the dirt… yeah they probably have a grudge.

 

[turbineseaplane]

iPhone 26 EU will be coming out next. It won't allow loading of anything other than your own music you download from Napster.

Go EU. Have fun with Droids.

C'mon ... can't we at least keep this topic in the realm of reality?

This level of cynical sarcasm isn't funny or helpful.

 

[iPadified]

I am invested in a platform where a malicious foreign entity (EU) is trying to change its fundamentals out of pure spite. If Apple also gives in, There will be no walled garden ecosystem and I might be forced to cease using a smartphone. EU is literally stealing the values and features (the walled garden ecosystem that is tightly vetted) so they are complicit in theft. A "third party app store" or a "sideloading" enjoyer can always buy an android, but if EU forces Apple to open up too, it's over for people who do not want these features or who know the malicious outcomes this opening up can bring (look at the vast world of Android viruses..)

EU is forcing Apple to give up on platform security, and putting millions of families (and kids) that uses iOS in danger because

A far bigger danger than side loading apps is the WEB, including social media, which very much exists on iOS. Block that too?

How about you spend all that energy in your own mobile platform that would have whatever rules and regulations you want, instead of coercing a company and extorting them out of cash. You don't even have to build from the start, either take AOSP or any other linux distro and build on top of it.

EU is actually realising that they depend too much on American companies (finally!) that are controlled politically by the current elected president (unexpectedly!) and EU and their member countries is currently evaluating alternatives. That will not help US trade balance with EU or the bottom line of these companies. Careful what you wish for.

 

[hooptyuber]

People claiming the EU is ripping off Apple should be aware that this fine amounts to only about 1.4% of the maximum possible penalty (10% of global turnover) the EU could have imposed. If the intention were truly to "rip Apple off," the fine would be much higher.

Yeah, Apple should be grateful that they’re only being fined a mere $500 million dollars here or a couple of a billion dollars there. They’re such arrogant ingrates….

 

[theluggage]

All was well when they ruled the closed, locked phone market.

Do you mean the "closed, locked phone market" where EU regulation means most people have a choice of 3 competing phone carriers, any phone works on any network, there are strict limits on locking phones to specific networks without offering unlock codes, generally free roaming between countries and competetive prices on call and data charges/contracts? (all gradually going south in the UK after Brexit...)

I looked at the cost of call/data packages in the US a few years back. Yikes!

 

[surferfb]

EU is actually realising that they depend too much on American companies (finally!) that are controlled politically by the current elected president (unexpectedly!) and EU and their member countries is currently evaluating alternatives. That will not help US trade balance with EU or the bottom line of these companies. Careful what you wish for.

Speaking for myself, I'd much prefer the EU work to build and support a third alternative than try to impose draconian regulations that take the choice of a closed ecosystem away from customers. Honestly, it'd be good for everyone.

 

[il_teo77]

EU trying to ripoff Apple is a tradition at this point

Whereas Apple and all major corporations never went to absurd lengths to avoid paying taxes. No one is "clean" I guess.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Whereas Apple and all major corporations never went to absurd lengths to avoid paying taxes. No one is "clean" I guess.

Yep -- Always brings me back to this exchange from Quantum of Solace

 

[Xiao_Xi]

I’m sure the survey commissioned by “People vs. Big Tech” asking “should we loosen regulations to give Trump a win or not” wasn’t a push poll at all.

I don't see any problem with these questions. A little context for the survey.

A leaked draft agreement on reciprocal trade suggests that the European Commission is considering exempting US Big Tech companies from its landmark digital competition rulebook - the Digital Markets Act (DMA) - to appease President Trump and avoid tariffs.

Large majority of French, German and Spanish public back tough EU stance on Big Tech, despite risk to Trump relations - People vs. Big Tech

Around half also believe Big Tech companies are more powerful than the EU Brussels, Belgium (3rd July 2025) - According to a new survey conducted by

peoplevsbig.tech

 

[deevey]

I’m Sorry about the Lightning cable e-waste, though. Oh, wait… if Apple had used USBC in the first place, this damage to our environment wouldn’t have happened either. There was no need for a proprietary lightning connector except Apple‘s hunger for money.

1. You realize that lightning predated USB-C by many years as an alternative to the (horrible) Micro/Mini USB ports?
2. Even when USB C began appearing on devices, lightning was It was capable of things that USB-C required external hardware or device integration for.

I don't disagree, they could have transitioned a couple of years earlier, USB-C found it's feet probably faster than anticipated. But it also gave some extra life to those folk who had existing lightning devices.

 

[AppliedMicro]

Yes and they expire if you don't have an enterprise entitlement. Seriously did you not see that when you pretended you installed them?

Certificates eventually expire. So what? What's your point?

Adjusting the validity period for certificates is certainly not the "massive change" to the operating system that you claimed (developing and having that signing infrastructure maybe would be - but it already exists for Apple's purposes and the purposes of their enterprise customers).

"If you don't have an enterprise entitlement" - yes that's what I've been saying:
Apple has merely been "gatekeeping" the functionality for commercial reasons.

I do this for a living I'm not going to bother arguing with you any longer.

You better not, if it amounts to mere appeals to authority ("I do this for a living").

I've never understood the people that think some majority of Europeans don't like the EU or what the EU does.

I don't like many of the things the EU does or requires.
That said, I consider myself part of a minority on that topic.

distrust of the free market

The market for iOS applications (or Android applications, for that matter) is not free.

not blow up Apple’s ecosystem

Nothing is "blown up". That's pure hyperbole.

If anything is blown up, it's a monopoly on distribution of apps to consumers.
And blowing up monopolies is a good thing.

“My preferences are more important than yours and the platform owner’s.

The principles of choice and competition (for businesses and consumers) in the overall market are more important than the money-making interests of individual market participants - particularly when they're in a dominant market position.

 

[SanderEvers]

I’m done.

Just let me side load. I paid £1000 for this phone.

Then get yourself an Android. You can sideload any app you want. But REALLY soon you will also discover why sideloading isn't the solution at all. When your phone is full of spy/malware.

 

[AppliedMicro]

iPhone 26 EU will be coming out next. It won't allow loading of anything other than your own music you download from Napster.

Go EU. Have fun with Droids.

👉 Go Apple. Have fun selling that in your expensive stores.

 

[loopi77]

as someone living inside that bureaucratic abomination : this EU of today has nothing to do with the idea and it should fogg off

 

[AppliedMicro]

But REALLY soon you will also discover why sideloading isn't the solution at all. When your phone is full of spy/malware.

Millions of people are sideloading on Windows PC and Macs all the time.
Without having contracted malware.

👉 Imprisoning yourself is not the solution to your personal security concerns at all.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Millions of people are sideloading on Windows PC and Macs all the time.
Without having contracted malware.

👉 Imprisoning yourself is not the solution to security concerns at all.

I just did some more installing (err... I mean "sideloading") on both macOS and Windows this weekend, in fact!

Felt great 😊

 

[AppliedMicro]

I just did some more installing (err... I mean "sideloading") on both macOS and Windows this weekend, in fact!

Felt great

But, but, but.... aren't your Mac and PCs all full of malware now?!

😱😬🫣

 

[HylianKnight]

Which clearly benefits consumers.
Private sharing of files without internet and cloud required.

Why are you so against it?

Rumor is, Apple already has this in the works

 

[roklanhavok]

The EU has made a classic mistake here. They decided to tell an individual business, from another country, how it must run its business. The people the already hated Apple, still hate it, and the people who loved Apple still love it, but now hate the EU. Good job.

 

[turbineseaplane]

But, but, but.... aren't your Mac and PCs all full of malware now?!

😱😬🫣

It's unusable.
I'm getting bombarded with ADs!

Oh wait .. those are from Apple for another trial of Music, their new Movie and a nag to do updates that I've dismissed many times already...

 

[Ctrlos]

That’s not something Apple wanted. And it will fight tooth and nail for what it believes.

The DMA is poorly written and the goalposts keep changing. And be reminded it’s an opt in business relationship with Apple. Nobody has a gun to anyone’s head to force them to become a developer.

The status quo is it's many people's livelihoods already. They can't unionise so it's up to the/a state to stand up for them. There is still no reason why Apple don't run the App Store at cost.

Apple will fight tooth and nail because the only way they can go now is down. Rather than accepting defeat and using it as a business opportunity or a chance to innovate (like they did with USBC) they instead look desperate to hold on to every dollar they can and frankly it's not a great look.