Just answer the question: why are Apple so bitterly fighting and denouncing the regulation? Instead of, you know, just complying and providing a better service/store that consumers trust, at competitive rates - also known as competing?
Do you really believe they’re doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, for consumers safety and convenience? 🤣
Put yourself in Apple's shoes. What exactly is there to like about it?
I think what really irks Apple isn't so much the money part (though money is important too), but the loss of control, and I have a suspicion it goes all the way back to the 1997 keynote at Macworld, where Steve Jobs announced Apple's partnership to Microsoft (to a fair amount of booing, IIRC). Never again would Apple be held hostage to an app that was bigger than Apple, which is possibly a factor why Apple Music was set up as a hedge against Spotify, the same way you had iWork's as an alternative to Office.
At a basic level, I believe Apple doesn’t think companies should be able to use the Apple ecosystem as they see fit, including acquiring users and generating revenue, and then not compensate Apple for its own work and efforts. That's partly why the CTF was introduced for apps that choose either a reduced commission or alternative App Store placement.
Apple sees it as their platform and their IP, with a right to monetise it as they deem fit. For the EU to just come in and attempt to negate everything with a wave of their hand is an affront to everything Apple has stood for over the last few decades.
The other not-so-subtle intent of the CTF is to preserve the status quo and keep small and medium developers on the existing terms, which Apple likely believes are better for consumers. On a broader level, I am fairly optimistic that most customers and developers will choose not to interact with the DMA and instead opt to stick with the status quo. The DMA will likely not have a material impact on Apple's financial picture. Rather, I feel that this is all about Apple doing what they think is right in trying to protect consumers.
The other issue is that Apple must not only allow EU competitors to leverage the iOS platform but also ensure competitors don’t act in bad faith to harm Apple users. To put it another way, Apple continues to bear the costs of vetting apps destined for third party app stores, but are unable to block them for objectionable content. If you thought that piracy was bad in the App Store, what happens when duplicate apps appear in third party app stores that Apple has zero veto power over?
Also, yes, Apple does block some apps which users may think are fine, like emulators (though Nintendo recently just had one struck down), but you are also looking at stuff like vaping, pornography, extreme hate speech and gambling.
This, admittedly, is in part what has me (a little) worried about Apple. If it were just about the money, I am pretty confident that Tim Cook, rational as he is, would know when to cut his losses. I am starting to wonder if Apple truly believes they are the reason why iOS developers even enjoy the success that they do, and are defending that righteous tenet with the fervour of a true believer. How far will Apple go with regard to defending that tenet?
I guess we will know in time, and probably sooner than later.
