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if a store has 2 apps, that does not automatically mean better curation just because they have more time to spend on an app.

apps can easily hide feature sets at review time. alt stores are disposable so bad actors wouldn't mind getting banned from there. getting on the App Store however is more important and there are less bad actors who are willing to risk getting banned from the largest App Store in terms of revenue.
Alternative Appstores can only survive if they have a good reputation. Apple's appstore survives because it is the only one in the town. That is why, in spite of thousands of scam apps, dismissive behavior towards developers, and discriminative behavior, it is still tolerated. However, if Altstore PAL (for example) distributes apps that are malicious, then they would have to close it, whereas Apple gets away with distributing hundreds of scam apps all the time.
 
It's a great way to get folks to buy an android in the EU. Google is lovng this.
We will see… :)

Only current model and coming ones will get the full AI anyway.

Older than that and you don’t.

I think the biggest issue for EU is that people are stilling buying Apple even with the walled garden restriction. They can legislate all they want to force alt app stores but apart from a few on here, no one is calling for this. And when dodgy apps via email links happen like on Android, people will wake up and realise the impact. You can’t force people to buy from alt app stores.

Since Apple suddenly added game emulators as allowed apps, they removed the most common complaint for sideloading ;)

And game companies can’t complain about Apple doing it.
The EU moves made it happen…
 
Alternative Appstores can only survive if they have a good reputation. Apple's appstore survives because it is the only one in the town. That is why, in spite of thousands of scam apps, dismissive behavior towards developers, and discriminative behavior, it is still tolerated. However, if Altstore PAL (for example) distributes apps that are malicious, then they would have to close it, whereas Apple gets away with distributing hundreds of scam apps all the time.
Apples App Store provides a trusted environment where it is easy and safe to buy apps, where refunds are handled well, and it doesn’t matter it is the only store. People have felt comfortable buying there. In fact so much so app devs know Apple apps outsell and produce more income per user.

Alt App Stores are going to offer a limited range of apps and who knows who they are? They won’t have a public profile anywhere near the App Store people already use. I don’t give Google my credit card details. I’d rather buy a store card for the few apps I need to buy.
 
this is complete and utter bantha poodoo!

nothing in our dma says apple can't bring it to our markets in the way they've announced it at wwdc in fact I would say and hazzard a guess with them offering an external ai processor from the start, in this case OpenAI's ChatGPT, it is already in complete compliance with the spirit of the DMA. Add to that the fact they spent a long time going on about their private cloud compute and then I assume it's also in compliance of GDPR and even goes beyond what GDPR stipulates.

So, this is just Apple being spiteful for their other troubles with eu lawmakers, the spotify case and the epic thing....
Honestly. I saw this coming. The EU is passing laws that had they existed before, many current features would have been left off in that market. Forcing Apple to provide their technology to businesses including competitors for free is a dumb idea that is unsustainable. It also compromises safety and security.
 
its not like went with f-around with core technology fee, did they? oh, wait

nobody gonna exit EU, its the 2nd most important market after US, everyone else does not have money for expensive toys.
I don't think the EU will be the second most important market after the US in many domains since the EU is a difficult market to deal with. I think China is more important than the EU for Apple.

I am going to go a little bit off topic here. The US is years ahead in many aspects like energy independence, they stimulate innovation by attracting investors. Secondly, most chip companies (INTEL) are US based, modem companies like QUALCOM, then there's NVIDIA Corporation that designs GPUs and we can go on....

If the EU wants to be an attractive market then they should regulate wisely by maintaining a balance between consumer protection and still being flexible enough for companies so they can invest in the EU without fearing that they will be fined billion of dollars.
 
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Here I was thinking iPhone upgrades suddenly weren't so boring after all and it may be time for me to finally get a new one later this year.

And then Apple comes and shuts that idea down lol.
Apple didn’t shut down the idea. The EU made it untenable for Apple to offer a few new features in that market. All the other advantages of the upgraded iPhone will be available to you. Of course, if you are so disappointed that you won’t get Apple Intelligence and iPhone Control from your Mac, you can always buy an Android and not get those features from Google, Samsung, etc. instead of not getting the from Apple.
 
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It's a great way to get folks to buy an android in the EU. Google is lovng this.
This is a perfect example of “cutting off your nose to spite your face”.

Your choice is between:

1) buying an iPhone and getting the advantages of the Apple ecosystem and proprietary technology, minus a few features Apple wants to protect from the EU’s demands that they open the tech so that it is no longer proprietary; or

2) or buy an Android, get none of the advantages of Apple technology nor the Apple ecosystem.

If you have an iPhone today because you prefer it’s technology and advantages to Android systems, nothing about that changes because you don’t get a few new features on a new iPhone that you can’t get on Android systems either.
 
How is Apple supposed to implement iPhone mirroring without letting any other company have access to core APIs that would allow this sort of interaction? That would violate the DMA

How is Apple supposed to implement Apple Intelligence without giving third party AI programs the same core OS access that Apple Intelligence will have? (Chat GPT does not have that same access, it will be more akin to a wrapper that Siri will pass requests to)

This was something people were screaming out when the DMA was being debated. And now it's happening
I'm not buying it. It just sounds like Apple FUD. Androids with AI functionality work just fine in the EU.
 
The EU made it untenable for Apple to offer a few new features in that market.
Does it really matter, why Apple is not rolling out the new features outside the US? New features are essential to convince customers to upgrade earlier in my opinion. When you're content with what you have, why spend on a new phone? I don't see iPhone sales collapsing because of this of course, but I do think it is a missed opportunity.
 
Alternative Appstores can only survive if they have a good reputation.

And?
Apple's appstore survives because it is the only one in the town. That is why, in spite of thousands of scam apps, dismissive behavior towards developers, and discriminative behavior, it is still tolerated. However, if Altstore PAL (for example) distributes apps that are malicious, then they would have to close it, whereas Apple gets away with distributing hundreds of scam apps all the time.

this doesn't explain how me as a seemingly upstanding developer can have alt stores review my app while I turn off malicious features, then turn it on when it gets released.

there's nothing fundamentally better about curation with alt stores. they don't have access to the source code. even if they did, it's not scalable to go through the source code to double check it's clean for every single app.

scammers don't scam people through alt stores currently because it's not worth their time. but if one alt store gets big, they'll have the same issue that apple is having and you're back to square one.

this argument makes no sense.
 
I think it is the private APIs. probably around remote control, if the authentication/permission and actual remote control aren't coupled tightly enough than those APIs might dangerous in the wrong hands
Who cares about the silly
iPhone mirroring anyways! But for christs sake, I want a smarter Siri!!
 
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I personally agree with this take, but what do you think the typical marginal smartphone buyer thinks? Are they concerned about privacy, or do they want the latest and greatest features to play with?
Depends on the MSM, what they write about. If they write people should be concerned, they will be concerned.
 
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I personally agree with this take, but what do you think the typical marginal smartphone buyer thinks? Are they concerned about privacy, or do they want the latest and greatest features to play with?
I couldn't really say what the typical buyer thinks, however I know I use Apple for several reasons with security and privacy being front and centre to it. Features are a bonus, but the integration between devices is key for me. Seamlessly going from device to device is exceptional without having to give my data up to Google.
 
Considering the ways Apple *is* playing ball with the (larger) Chinese market (and still to a large degree the place of manufacture for many Apple devices), it is funny how they try to play power games with the EU, instead of finding solutions that benefit the customers. The legislation of the European Union, as all legislative processes is not perfect, just look at law-making in the US and how party lines, commercial interests via PACs and, well, legal forms of bribe, state interests and more and more even religious beliefs form the everyday laws of US citizens. It feels strange to see the EU, which is a rather fragile economic and political come-together of sovereign states, acted upon when we may have laws that try to deal with future technology and monopolistic market trends and that MAY take some functionality from devices that do not comply, when on the other hand in the US the Supreme Court took away Roe vs. Wade and brought back bump stocks. No law-making process is perfect. In the EU is a case of politicians from various countries with wildly varying interests, different languages, coming together to figure out a compromise. Many of these are weak, some are downright stupid, some want the right thing but play out very different in real life. The general line is that the EU at least still tries to put consumers’ interest over a completely free market. There is less Milton Friedman in the EU (and the US under Biden are starting to be a bit more Keynes-ian, too, again, which explains the rather good economical data in the states), there are laws governing banking, agriculture, traffic, customs and so on. As with all things in life, some of these aren't perfect. But I think post-Brexit one can see that as a whole these laws make life better. Buying stuff in the UK has become a nightmare since they left the EU, as regulations and the freedom of the Schengen accords has gone.

That said, USB-C is a good thing. And when a new, better, standard comes, I think it will be possible for companies to speak to the lawmakers and update the standards, nothing says USB-C has been written in stone till the end of mankind, rules evolve with the market, as they have to. Side-Loading on iOS (and especially iPad) will be a good thing. I LOVE the AppStore, no hassle, subscriptions cancelled easily, transparent reminders, a bit of a safety net, installing without codes and activations and all that BS on many devices, linked to one central account. That and the curated market-place is very very often worth the 30% (it should be 15%, but that's another debate). But on MacOS we have side-loading since, well, ever – and it is an important part of why that OS is so much better and more practical. There is software for almost every problem, there is much more ingenuity in terms of small apps and hacks that make the OS much better and more use-able. And I use lots of them, not feeling my security has been THAT compromised because I use Forklift or ABetterFinderAttributes ;-).

The thing is: It is good to have a legislative body trying to reign in companies that tend toward monopolistic power plays. This is the very thing politics HAS to do, to represent the interest of the people they govern to the parallel reality of economy. It's a messy process, as is ALL of democracy, as is all of human communication, frankly, but this kind of dialogue or discourse with the industries and markets is super important and if both sides do not lock in anger and scorn and try to be pushy but look for common benefit and win-win-scenarios, it DOES work. And work well. Law-making in the EU is problematic, and I personally wish that Brussels had more freedom vs the individual states (as in the US it makes sense to wonder if the Senate in its current form really represents the people), as laws that pass down from Brussels to the communal areas of cities and towns go through many changes and processes and, well, bureaucracy on so many levels turns many good ideas into abominations, of course. But still, all things considered, I really would rather live in and be able to shape this process instead of living in countries where such complex and difficult and frustrating democratic processes have been voided.

And we all know, by 2025 there will be AI on devices in the EU. This more or less is just Apple blaming internal development problems, copyright issues, different law structures and language barriers etc on regulators. But as AI is not Apple News, is not a discrete part of the OS, not more or less a standalone app, but woven into every application, both sides will have to find a way in order to really not end up with a fractured OS.
 
Apple didn’t shut down the idea. The EU made it untenable for Apple to offer a few new features in that market. All the other advantages of the upgraded iPhone will be available to you. Of course, if you are so disappointed that you won’t get Apple Intelligence and iPhone Control from your Mac, you can always buy an Android and not get those features from Google, Samsung, etc. instead of not getting the from Apple.
What kind of illogical conclusion is this that I should get an android because I'm content with my current iPhone?
 
Considering the ways Apple *is* playing ball with the (larger) Chinese market (and still to a large degree the place of manufacture for many Apple devices), it is funny how they try to play power games with the EU, instead of finding solutions that benefit the customers. The legislation of the European Union, as all legislative processes is not perfect, just look at law-making in the US and how party lines, commercial interests via PACs and, well, legal forms of bribe, state interests and more and more even religious beliefs form the everyday laws of US citizens. It feels strange to see the EU, which is a rather fragile economic and political come-together of sovereign states, acted upon when we may have laws that try to deal with future technology and monopolistic market trends and that MAY take some functionality from devices that do not comply, when on the other hand in the US the Supreme Court took away Roe vs. Wade and brought back bump stocks. No law-making process is perfect. In the EU is a case of politicians from various countries with wildly varying interests, different languages, coming together to figure out a compromise. Many of these are weak, some are downright stupid, some want the right thing but play out very different in real life. The general line is that the EU at least still tries to put consumers’ interest over a completely free market. There is less Milton Friedman in the EU (and the US under Biden are starting to be a bit more Keynes-ian, too, again, which explains the rather good economical data in the states), there are laws governing banking, agriculture, traffic, customs and so on. As with all things in life, some of these aren't perfect. But I think post-Brexit one can see that as a whole these laws make life better. Buying stuff in the UK has become a nightmare since they left the EU, as regulations and the freedom of the Schengen accords has gone.

That said, USB-C is a good thing. And when a new, better, standard comes, I think it will be possible for companies to speak to the lawmakers and update the standards, nothing says USB-C has been written in stone till the end of mankind, rules evolve with the market, as they have to. Side-Loading on iOS (and especially iPad) will be a good thing. I LOVE the AppStore, no hassle, subscriptions cancelled easily, transparent reminders, a bit of a safety net, installing without codes and activations and all that BS on many devices, linked to one central account. That and the curated market-place is very very often worth the 30% (it should be 15%, but that's another debate). But on MacOS we have side-loading since, well, ever – and it is an important part of why that OS is so much better and more practical. There is software for almost every problem, there is much more ingenuity in terms of small apps and hacks that make the OS much better and more use-able. And I use lots of them, not feeling my security has been THAT compromised because I use Forklift or ABetterFinderAttributes ;-).

The thing is: It is good to have a legislative body trying to reign in companies that tend toward monopolistic power plays. This is the very thing politics HAS to do, to represent the interest of the people they govern to the parallel reality of economy. It's a messy process, as is ALL of democracy, as is all of human communication, frankly, but this kind of dialogue or discourse with the industries and markets is super important and if both sides do not lock in anger and scorn and try to be pushy but look for common benefit and win-win-scenarios, it DOES work. And work well. Law-making in the EU is problematic, and I personally wish that Brussels had more freedom vs the individual states (as in the US it makes sense to wonder if the Senate in its current form really represents the people), as laws that pass down from Brussels to the communal areas of cities and towns go through many changes and processes and, well, bureaucracy on so many levels turns many good ideas into abominations, of course. But still, all things considered, I really would rather live in and be able to shape this process instead of living in countries where such complex and difficult and frustrating democratic processes have been voided.

And we all know, by 2025 there will be AI on devices in the EU. This more or less is just Apple blaming internal development problems, copyright issues, different law structures and language barriers etc on regulators. But as AI is not Apple News, is not a discrete part of the OS, not more or less a standalone app, but woven into every application, both sides will have to find a way in order to really not end up with a fractured OS.
So much to unpack in this. So I won’t even try. Some I agree with. Some I don’t. But I have one question based on your line about USB C being a better standard. My question. What is the USB C standard?
 
This has likely already been posted, but there are 28 pages now and I cba to search.

The EU Is Reaping What It Sows With the DMA: Uncertainty

This isn’t about privacy or the fact that Apple Intelligence models were trained on data scraped from the public web. Such factors might play a role in Apple Intelligence’s compliance, but not iPhone Mirroring or the new SharePlay screen sharing. This is about the DMA’s restrictions on designated gatekeepers launching their own integrated services and features.

Under repeated threats of fines up to $40–80 billion dollars (10–20 percent of worldwide revenue), it would be recklessly irresponsible for Apple, or any other designated “gatekeeper”, to launch any new services or integrated features in the EU without absolute certainty that those features are compliant with the DMA. And the nature of the European Commission is that they do not issue such assurances in advance. This is not spite. Spite would be saying these features will never come to the EU while the DMA remains in place. But a delayed rollout is the only rational response to the DMA: extreme caution in the face of the law’s by-design uncertainty and severe penalties.
(my emphasis)
 
this doesn't explain how me as a seemingly upstanding developer can have alt stores review my app while I turn off malicious features, then turn it on when it gets released.

there's nothing fundamentally better about curation with alt stores. they don't have access to the source code. even if they did, it's not scalable to go through the source code to double check it's clean for every single app.

scammers don't scam people through alt stores currently because it's not worth their time. but if one alt store gets big, they'll have the same issue that apple is having and you're back to square one.

this argument makes no sense.
Then they will sink so that they can no longer supply more scam apps. It is once and done. Not like Apple's Appstore which keeps surviving even though there is an unending supply of scam apps.
 
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Apples App Store provides a trusted environment where it is easy and safe to buy apps, where refunds are handled well, and it doesn’t matter it is the only store. People have felt comfortable buying there. In fact so much so app devs know Apple apps outsell and produce more income per user.

Alt App Stores are going to offer a limited range of apps and who knows who they are? They won’t have a public profile anywhere near the App Store people already use. I don’t give Google my credit card details. I’d rather buy a store card for the few apps I need to buy.
How did Apple come into being? Was Apple always there? Apple started small and earned its reputation. Now it is running on that reputation and seems to be cashing in/resting on its laurels. Similarly, new Appstores will start slowly and if they are good, they will earn their reputation and grow. Funnily, that is how any business starts and grows. Luckily, they are not relying on your purchases :) just kidding.
If you want an app, you pay. Do you only use your credit card at Apple and nowhere else?
 
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Whatever, I can't run the Apple AI on my mini anyway.
When I need to buy another iPhone the Apple AI might have matured in EU.

Meanwhile, I use ChatGPT as it is, np.
 
Apples App Store provides a trusted environment where it is easy and safe to buy apps, where refunds are handled well, and it doesn’t matter it is the only store. People have felt comfortable buying there. In fact so much so app devs know Apple apps outsell and produce more income per user.
Great.

So why doesn't Apple just comply by allowing third party stores on equal commercial terms, Spotify to have their "call to action" linking to their web site and just move on, rather than incurring the wrath of regulators and be mired in protracted legal battles?

Plus, there's the PR fallout. I can tell you what the mainstream press's headlines are likely going to be: That Apple is violating the law and refusing to comply in good faith. The mainstream press isn't going to take a stand for Apple and accuse the EU of overreach.

Forcing Apple to provide their technology to businesses including competitors for free is a dumb idea that is unsustainable. It also compromises safety and security.
You can control and mirror macOS from other computers. It works and compromises on safety and security are overblown.

scammers don't scam people through alt stores currently because it's not worth their time. but if one alt store gets big, they'll have the same issue that apple is having and you're back to square one.
...which invalidates Apple's claims how it's only them that are (supposedly) able to keep users secure.

This has likely already been posted, but there are 28 pages now and I cba to search.

The EU Is Reaping What It Sows With the DMA: Uncertainty
Gruber is an Apple shill and has been serving as its unofficial mouthpiece for a a long time - saying and explaining what Apple executives themselves aren't willing to say in public.

Quoting Gruber:

This isn’t about privacy or the fact that Apple Intelligence models were trained on data scraped from the public web. Such factors might play a role in Apple Intelligence’s compliance, but not iPhone Mirroring or the new SharePlay screen sharing. This is about the DMA’s restrictions on designated gatekeepers launching their own integrated services and features.

👉 Apple can introduce iPhone Mirroring and SharePlay screen sharing as features on iOS.

A feature is a feature. Even if other companies can write their own client apps to connect to it. The legal prohibition isn't on the new iPhone feature - it would just be on keeping interoperability and and connecting to it for themselves.
 
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