You're saying Apple doesn't care about money? The insane Apple Tax on Apple products says otherwise.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple's Fines in Dutch Antitrust Case Could Exceed €50 Million
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Even more hilarious if the country you live in implements some similar ruling, and the same thing happens to you. Not many countries don't have something like this on the cards.
What makes you think they aren’t complying with the letter of the law?
The fact that they’re still being fined. Not to mention it’s possible to follow the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law.
There are more than two choices as there are a myriad of smartphone makers, some developing their own operating systems. Mobile o/s are exactly a vibrant competitive market. Even if one strips Apple of all control over it's ecosystem, it will remain a very popular choice with people, (imo) despite the dozens of smartphone manufacturers and even though it's market share is dwarfed by Android.
Because antitrust and regulatory laws are needed, doesn't preclude from voting with one's wallet for mass produced consumer products made by for profit companies. It also, imo, doesn't mean that companies no matter what they produce should not be regulated to ensure what they produce will minimally not physically harm or injure people. But to me the line is drawn when government tells these companies their proprietary ip has to be interoperable. Voting with your $$$ is the best way to make companies see the light of day.
Logical thinking + the Dutch’s law makers statement and the fines isn’t enough?
Voting with your wallet does not work out here anymore, that’s wishful thinking, and only works at a small scale.
Anyway it’s the perfect example why I welcome the Digital Market Act, 10% of the worldwide yearly turnover will have more effect.
But somehow i have a feeling that Apple will act stubborn here too and face much higher fines or even risk getting a business shutdown, simply because of their religious thinking. Apple is the new age SCO.
Last edited:
The Netherlands is a parliamentary democracy. Dutch citizens over the age of 18 vote for their representatives and those representatives represent the voters‘ interests (… in theory, of course, lol). So in that basic way, you already have a sort of statistical analysis on what the Dutch citizenry wants.
Not going to end now unless Apple's new proposal is accepted. Might take some time.
While the Netherlands are small and it might be easy for Apple to pull out of there, thats not the point.
Once this is settled one way or the other it will be kicked up to EU courts, and I'm pretty sure Apple can't afford to ignore that market.
As long as it is in limbo all is good, just like companies are shy to enforce their EULAs fearing that the house of cards may come tumbling down once tested in court.
Dutch government should deem Apple Inc. a terrorist organization that does not follow local rules.
Sounds sensible.
I have a couple of questions … in the context of allowing third parties have more control over their assets, alternate payment systems and Apps to be installed from the App Store or another source what is the inconvenience and advantages of how macOS works? Secondly how would that translate iOS downfall as argued?
This seems like such a short-sighted view.
What do you really think regulators will do if you just keep ignoring them? Just go away? Or, perhaps, write legislation that is really going to hurt?
Apple would be smart to get in front of this thing, because it's pretty clear which way the wind is blowing on this topic globally.
That's a fascinating idea for Apple to cease operations in Denmark to spite regulators in the Netherlands ?
macOS is a niche system. To see how a widespread issue could bring down systems in mass some of the more famous windows malware could be used as an example.
Ask blackberry if that was wishful thinking.
Horses for courses. I don’t welcome death or taxes, but they too are a reality.
Ok. Then you should sell your apple stock and iPhone and Mac and get google stock and pixel and windows.
If the threatened fines were that large, the company would take the government to court and most likely win.
So the Dutch government is without error here? I’m not defending Apple but we shouldn’t assume that the fines are automatically valid. Apple could be completely following the letter of the law but the Dutch government doesn’t like the loopholes the law created so they keep fining Apple just because they can.
Interesting theory. You sound like those Windows guys that argued to the teeth that A architecture (iPad, iPhone) was a toy and could not cope with the demands of professional devices like Intel and AMD could. Even when data pointed to the opposite. Look at it now.
The fact is both macOS and iOS are fundamentally a flavor of Unix. An architecture that has been tested by time in terms of security and performance. In fact it’s the most used system on the Internet backend serving the Planet … that is what protecting for instance your iCloud data. MacOS sandboxing is excellent for protecting local user data.
Security is fundamentally manifested in entities keeping control over their properties … the less control you have … the more insecure the system is. In that context The App Store economies come with significant security threats also. The threat is just institutionalized in these systems … which is basically the worst kind of threat … even to nations … a dystopian threat … when the App Store drivers flex …. It’s a catastrophe for the ones that depend on it … no one is safe. God like powers wrapped up in an unilateral ever changing contratual agreements.
When at large scale … planetary scale, it’s practices need to be overwatched and regulated by independent parties with power to enforce the implementation of mechanisms (compliance) aiming a more balanced systems of control … case in case App Stores and the targeted devices.
Last edited:
Sure there are a bunch of smartphone manufacturers, but the software you can use isn’t tied to the smartphone manufacturer, but the OS, of which there are two choices. The fact that many smartphone manufacturers exist is a red herring.
Samsung has tizen, and oppo or another vendor is developing their own o/s as well. Seems like competition is there.