The big issue with bills like this is that I agree with about 75% of it. Same goes for the Digital markets act.
But I disagree with the remaining 25% so strongly that it usually outweighs the remaining 75%.
It’s like all of these bills that are introduced take 5 steps forward… then fall backwards down a flight of stairs at the last possible minute..
Misusing nonpublic business-user data to copy and compete against small businesses.
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- Blocking business users from accessing or moving their own data from one digital platform to another.
- Retaliating against users or business users who raise legal concerns.
- Unfairly enforcing terms of service in ways that harm competition.
- Conditioning companies' access to the platform, or product placement on the platform, on purchase or use of unrelated services.
- Locking users into default settings.
- Skewing ranking or presentation against similarly situated business users.
Like the DMA, AICOA would allow for third-party app marketplaces and alternative payment methods
This is all absolutely fantastic, a very needed step forward.
Third party app marketplaces, alternate payment methods, Apple not taking their 30% on literally everything, the ability to easily switch platforms, so on and so on… These are fantastic changes.
However…
Unfairly favoring their own products or services.
- Unfairly limiting competitors' access to key platform features.
- mandating open platform access
These are all absolutely awful, not just for Apple but for the tech space at large.
I think Apple should be forced to play fair, what I don’t think is that Apple should be Force to do is stop being Apple.
Literally from the beginning, or at least since the late 90s, during their big comeback the biggest plus Apple has been able to use to set itself apart is the ecosystem.
Buy an iBook/MacBook and synchronize it with your iPod, and then go take some photos with your iPhone, edit them on your MacBook and look back at them on the Apple TV, then use your iPad to catch up on those emails related to the stuff you did earlier on the MacBook.
And do this all with AirPods in your ears seamlessly transitioning from one device to the next.
Under all of these laws, it very quickly becomes Apple being forced to make any crappy product, no matter how awful, work perfectly with their devices, and if it doesn’t, it’s their fault. Even if it’s some cheap $10 smart watch, it has to work absolutely flawlessly with the iPhone as the Apple Watch does. And Apple can’t say anything about the security, because they have no idea where that $10 smart watch has come from and what it’s sending back to its creator.
This is not a world I want. I don’t want a world where Apple gets punished because some consumer who didn’t know better bought a $35 set of AI AirPods knockoffs, and every time Siri read out a text message: it was being sent right from those headphones to a server in the UK where their government can go ahead and snoop.
Or even putting the security argument aside, just think of all the awful experiences now that people are going to blame Apple, or Google, or Samsung for because they have to Open their platform to any ol’ junk hardware manufacturer. It’s gonna be like the absolute scam that printers already are, but on a much wider scale. The market of knockoff technically Apple compatible Apple watches and AirPods and HomePods and AirTags is already pretty big, but it’s going to absolutely blow up if this bill goes through. And it’s going to be bad.
Again, a lot of the stuff I absolutely like. I don’t think Apple should be allowed to make developers and other technology companies lives a nightmare. But Apple should still be allowed to let Apple devices work best together because they are Apple devices. Same with Samsung. I don’t think they should be forced to give up their biggest advantage that sets them apart.
And I certainly don’t think that Apple should be forced to allow iPhone mirroring and notifications forwarding on Android and Windows.
And as several other commenters have mentioned, both in the US and the European Union, why on earth are game consoles excluded from all of these laws?
Game consoles are more walled garden locked in than any Apple product has been ever.
Nintendo makes Apple’s garden look like the walls are made of paper in comparison.
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