Why should a private company be forced to subsidize its competitors at the expense of their own products?
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Apple Gets EU Warning to Open iOS to Third-Party Connected Devices
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1. The App Store hasn't been designated as a gatekeeper, Apple has.
2. The EU have said that they have taken into account the number of businesses using the platforms when designating gatekeepers. That is clearly a much bigger issue with Amazon/Apple/Google/Microsoft than it is Spotify.
3. Your entire argument seems to based on the EU using the Digital Markets Act to attack US companies as some form of protectionism yet this doesn't explain why the same US companies are also facing regulatory action in the US and elsewhere?
4. EU is also calling for reform of music streaming platforms, this doesn't make sense if the DMA has been devised to protect them.
This part in particular seems to be directly aimed at Spotify
I guess how much money is being flowing from Korean and Chinese mobile phones manufacturers to decision makers in the EU to systematically attack Apple.
The latest example is Apple Intelligence.
Why do they only bother about Apple Intelligence and none of the alternatives from the other manufacturers like Samsung, Xiaomi or Huawey, to name a few?
I agree that having a USB-C port in my iPhone is better than having a proprietary Apple connection. But shouln't that be my choice, as a consumer, and not a choice from some EU decision maker that, in fact, in such much more examples, is tackling inovation and the free market?
Why EU decision makers are always so patronizing regarding the consumers and the market as a whole?
The latest example is Apple Intelligence.
Why do they only bother about Apple Intelligence and none of the alternatives from the other manufacturers like Samsung, Xiaomi or Huawey, to name a few?
I agree that having a USB-C port in my iPhone is better than having a proprietary Apple connection. But shouln't that be my choice, as a consumer, and not a choice from some EU decision maker that, in fact, in such much more examples, is tackling inovation and the free market?
Why EU decision makers are always so patronizing regarding the consumers and the market as a whole?
I'm of two minds. On one hand it's good we get more choice and more competition, and will have more open eco systems. On the other hand we can expect a race to the bottom of lowest common denominators, where companies are less inclined to stick their neck out by offering unique competitive features...
Also why is the EU so tough on Apple (who has a significantly lower marketshare here) and seemingly leave Meta, Google, Microsoft, Sony, Tencent alone? Can the EU please force Meta to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp? And for crying out loud forbid all those privacy data lock-ins in general for hardware like phones, headsets, watches, .... There is almost nothing you can do anymore without leaking personal data to vampiric data brokers.
Also why is the EU so tough on Apple (who has a significantly lower marketshare here) and seemingly leave Meta, Google, Microsoft, Sony, Tencent alone? Can the EU please force Meta to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp? And for crying out loud forbid all those privacy data lock-ins in general for hardware like phones, headsets, watches, .... There is almost nothing you can do anymore without leaking personal data to vampiric data brokers.
yeah and the earth is actually flat, and America never went to the moon.
This is a conspiracy theory, especially considering Huawei is being blocked from operating properly in much of Europe. Innovation and free market are nothing more than buzzwords.
In fact, it's probably better to have the tech market regulated by the government or state-owned companies, given how much is tech present in our lives.
Thank you mark-vdw for what appears to be a sincere and thoughtful response.
I disagree with people that say this is all about Apple. I understand that Apple get's the majority of the attention and scrutiny because they make a lot of money and they make the product that is the most distinctive in terms of openness.
I understand that the iPhone in general is not aligned with what the EU Government believes is a good product/platform/experience, therefore the EU Government seems to be focusing on it more.
However, my question still stands. Is there an aspect of design that the EU Government should not be able to dictate? Arguments can certainly be made that the physical dimensions of an iPhone should be standardized similar to the USB-C port. A lot of cases are thrown out because they don't fit other phones (screen protectors, mounts, etc...). Arguments can be made that battery life should be standardized, it can't last longer than X or shorter than Y, because as a consumer, battery life shouldn't be a barrier for me switching phones (obviously this is an absurd example, but it's only absurd until its not).
I also understand that some aspects of the DMA mirror or align with traditional prohibitions on monopolistic practices. The term "Gate Keeper" was created because of the differences between traditional markets and sub-segmentation of markets. Where I think the DMA gets it wrong is the way it delineates (micro segmentation) markets, it seems to be rather selective about how it defines a "market", which it has to be or the arguments fall apart.
I've said it before. The big difference in the way most people (fanboys who think Apple is always right aside) view this is based on a philosophical preference for the role of government in our lives.
Jesus, the amount of energy some people put in to defending the business interests of multi trillion dollar corporations is insane…
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Laws and Demands are completely separate. Yes, every company [whether its Apple, Starbucks, Nike] is required to comply. Each country has their own Laws that must be legally respected.
Whether its laws to make products
- more reusable
- less waste.
- making sure radiation phone phones, tablets, laptops are met to legal standards.
- etc
China, North Korea advising Apple to make restrictions due to their gov't function is 100% agreed upon as thats how that Gov't operates.
"specification proceedings" are completely separate and are NOT LAWS. Per the official EU document [https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_4761]
"The DMA aims to ensure contestable and fair markets in the digital sector. It regulates gatekeepers, which are large digital platforms that provide an important gateway between business users and consumers, whose position can grant them the power to create a bottleneck in the digital economy."
1. The first proceeding focuses on several iOS connectivity features and functionalities, predominantly used for and by connected devices.
2. The second proceeding focuses on the process Apple has set up to address interoperability requests submitted by developers and third parties for iOS and IPadOS.
There is no case that can be made that Apple is a walled garden.
Phil Schiller said that lightning is a modern connector for the next decade.
People that say it's because of the EU that we have USB-C on the iPhone forgot what Schiller said in 2012. What I am saying is that most likely Apple would have transitioned the iPhone to USB-C without EU's intervention.
That's a figure of speech. It also implies Apple was using technology from 2012 in their 2022 flagships, if taken literally.
While I'm not opposed to Apple running their products as a closed shop, I don't think this is terrible either. Businesses exist at the pleasure of society regulated by their government structures (who set the rules of the table for business to play by).
Most folks will still just buy Apple's stuff because its so good and so good together, but for folks that want their Garmin or FitBit or try out a Pixel Watch to work as well with their iPhone this isn't the end of the world. If Apple thinks a bit about all this, they might consider selling their items plugged into Android as well, much like they chose to do with iPod's and Windows back in the day - because it'll bring people to their ecosystem.
Most folks will still just buy Apple's stuff because its so good and so good together, but for folks that want their Garmin or FitBit or try out a Pixel Watch to work as well with their iPhone this isn't the end of the world. If Apple thinks a bit about all this, they might consider selling their items plugged into Android as well, much like they chose to do with iPod's and Windows back in the day - because it'll bring people to their ecosystem.
Well, I think the DMA has its pluses and minuses, and the full implications won’t be felt for a while, I think providing specifications is a good step.
It gives Apple more clear guidance on what to do and ideally the same specifications will apply to android as well so that users could use an Apple Watch with a Samsung phone for example just like they could use a Samsung watch with an Apple iPhone, such interoperability would be good for consumers and possibly ultimately better for Apple as well as they could sell Apple watches to android phone users.
The second part, the criteria for Access I think is important too, and needs to balance the rights of Apple to profit from their IP as well as allow people reasonable access to it. I also think it’s important that Apple be allowed to maintain security of the devices so that apps can’t just get unfettered access to anything unless the user specifically allows it and the apps are transparent about what data they want access to and why.
That said there’s no way Apple is leaving Europe at worst Europe will get a iPhone that has a set of European features that may or may not mirror those available elsewhere and vice versa. It’s sort of like China where US phone won’t work there because it does not have a Sim slot, even though the phone will actually connect to the network just fine, but Apple is not going to include SIM cards in US phones simply to make them available to the Chinese market.
And if someone says well, the EU should just require Apple to ensure that the phones have the features that are available elsewhere that would be like the US requiring every car company to make cars that have every option as the cars due in Europe , while meeting US standards for each model, simply because they import one version of that model model to the US.
It gives Apple more clear guidance on what to do and ideally the same specifications will apply to android as well so that users could use an Apple Watch with a Samsung phone for example just like they could use a Samsung watch with an Apple iPhone, such interoperability would be good for consumers and possibly ultimately better for Apple as well as they could sell Apple watches to android phone users.
The second part, the criteria for Access I think is important too, and needs to balance the rights of Apple to profit from their IP as well as allow people reasonable access to it. I also think it’s important that Apple be allowed to maintain security of the devices so that apps can’t just get unfettered access to anything unless the user specifically allows it and the apps are transparent about what data they want access to and why.
As others have pointed out, it depends on how you define Europe Europe does not equal EU and in Apple‘s case the European region is more than just what one would consider Europe.
That said there’s no way Apple is leaving Europe at worst Europe will get a iPhone that has a set of European features that may or may not mirror those available elsewhere and vice versa. It’s sort of like China where US phone won’t work there because it does not have a Sim slot, even though the phone will actually connect to the network just fine, but Apple is not going to include SIM cards in US phones simply to make them available to the Chinese market.
And if someone says well, the EU should just require Apple to ensure that the phones have the features that are available elsewhere that would be like the US requiring every car company to make cars that have every option as the cars due in Europe , while meeting US standards for each model, simply because they import one version of that model model to the US.
Maybe on this forum but I assure you plenty of US citizens absolutely take the side of the EU in these cases. There is a lot of fanboy rhetoric going on but as with USB-C, this is another great thing.
Apple should just pull out of the EU. I know that seems impossible, and will hurt financially for a while, but do they need this continued headache?
I can't never understand why folks argue against their own interests and stan for megacorps instead
So bizarre
So bizarre
That is because we in EU didnt vote enough EU skeptical parties. We’ve got what we deserve.
The amount of people here (and every other EU article) supporting Apple's anti-consumerism is just something else 
Same goes for opening the walled garden for those who wish to do more with their devices.
Same goes for opening the walled garden for those who wish to do more with their devices.