simple enough, don't use or buy Apple products devices. Android Google will always exist in some matter
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EU Not Reassessing Apple and Google Antitrust Investigations, But New Administration Could Shift Priorities
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Tariffs are bad ideas. They raise everyone's prices and make economies less efficient. But sometimes they become necessary to combat the protectionist and anti-competitive actions of foreign governments (e.g. tariffs, fines, subsidies, etc.). Everyone loses in the end. Don't you see the damage Vestager has done to the EU economy? You can try to point your finger at the US, but none of this would happen and we would all be better off if Vestager had allowed everyone to compete instead of trying to kill world-class competition in Europe and the US.
This was nothing more than a witch-hunt designed to extort money from successful American companies.
It will be interesting to see how the EU stance changes once a US administration with a backbone comes to play.
I hear what you’re saying here, and sure, she had an agenda, but, she was a commissioner, one of many so the question is, how can a single commissioner become that powerful? She must have had support from her peers and the folks she reports into, or is there something else?
But they are all career politicians/bureaucrats and they rarely have the people’s interest in mind, their own interest outweigh those of who the (supposedly) “serve”
Selective enforcement is not a core principle of democracies.
That would be interesting. In the meantime the EU will have to deal with the chaos of the incoming administration. where policy is the thought you had last Thursday, in insolation and ignorant of world events or ongoing implications.
Vestager was the EU Commissioner for Competition. While commissioners as a group are supposed to make collaborative decisions on broad matters, she was the executive head of the Directorate-General for Competition and had individual authority over matters concerning competition, antitrust, and mergers. So, though she must have had support of peers, Vestager wielded a lot of power and made autonomous decisions in matters concerning her portfolio.
She was the Commissioner in charge of the Competition directorate (if you’re American, think of it like being the head of the “Department of Competition”), so she had significant power to set policy.
After this article I can only say “Exactly”.
The MR crowd over here have been up to their ears clamoring how finally Apple is being punished for bad practices, that this ISN’T political at all and just due diligence, fair play, for the people, for the children, etc.
If it isn’t political at all, why the heck are they waiting for “political direction”? Who cares who is in office or not, let alone who is in office in another country to do your job properly?
It shouldn’t matter, it should be continued to be executed as designed, blind and dutiful. Justice is blind as they want to say…
And the things have been done half ways: many like their walled garden yet these people aren’t heard at all (if they didn’t like it they would have chosen any other brand), they have forced the adoption of just USBC instead of going full blown Thunderbolt 4/5, 30% fees (15% for most) is standard practice everywhere but somehow it ruffles everybody’s feathers when it’s Apple because “monopoly” (and magical monopoly, without the majority of the market share), etc.
Now when checking the default apps in my settings (which had a nice easy to access section for find my, mail, safari, etc) I have to inconveniently go to a sub menu dug deep down, and many more changes to come putting more turd in the punch bowl.
But ok fine, let’s not defend Apple, but neither attack it. Instad tighten your belts, heat your hammers, and create the triPhoneRT whatever that can run Linux, or Android, or Windows, or SteamOS; with its nice fancy pants compatible-with-all App Store at 0.5% sales fees.
Instead of messing up politically with other companies, use that energy and tax payer’s money to lead way, show us how it’s done.
(I’m pissing in a hurricane, I know. Rant over).
If the TikTok flip flop tells us anything it's that this is the kind of backbone you'd see ringing bells at Notre Dame.
Spotify will throw a parade and positions will shift.
The only country with protectionist rights is... the strongest one. The rest of the wolrd must endure or face the consequences!.
Everytime a country/region wants to have a little more competitive environment, the big boy makes a tantrum and even whole countries and millions of persons have to pay for that. So confortable to be part of that and complain about them spies, them protectionist, them abusive, etc.
Shame.
Everytime a country/region wants to have a little more competitive environment, the big boy makes a tantrum and even whole countries and millions of persons have to pay for that. So confortable to be part of that and complain about them spies, them protectionist, them abusive, etc.
Shame.
That company that exists because it was in the US interest for it to exist, so the US provided them with the tech to start with? I doubt the EU can have all their hardware and software needs met by ASML, but they are welcome to try I suppose!
If the EU was serious, they would have blocked sales of the iPhone until ALL their demands were met. Unfortunately for the EU (just like almost every region), the profits made from iPhone users eclipse the platform that has more active users. Restricting the iPhone would have blasted a hole into the profits of every EU company that deals in mobile commerce.
That company that exists because it was in the US interest for it to exist, so the US provided them with the tech to start with? I doubt the EU can have all their hardware and software needs met by ASML, but they are welcome to try I suppose!
That company exists as it is in the Netherlands, as an EU corporation fully embracing EU policies and regulations, and the entire tech world depends on its products.
Don't try to make excuses because it doesn't suit your narrative.
They wouldn’t be if they didn’t have non-EU tech companies. Remove Windows and they’d be in dire straits.
You don't have to sell me on how bad tariffs are. But they're very very good for Trump because he can easily carve out exemptions for people who pay him money.
It suits my narrative perfectly! It is in no position to provide all of the technical benefits that non-EU companies provide the region. They ship no desktops or laptops, they ship no phones or app stores. Without non-EU tech companies they would have no tech.
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Actually they are not. US Tariffs are paid by US citizens making a purchase to encourage them to buy domestic products. EU fines and court judgements are paid by US companies. To fine somebody based on their global revenue is ridiculous. The whole Ireland case where the country of Ireland did not want to collect a fine from Apple but were forced to by the EU was also ridiculous.
They didn‘t have an important computing platform and didn’t impose a 30% tax on transactions on it.
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- Letting duopolies emerge in important supply or platform markets (such as the one for mobile operating systems and application stores AND
- allowing duopolists to impose their charges and business terms on tens of thousands of businesses that depend on them AND ALSO
- letting them leverage their monopoly and platform power anticompetitively to gain advantages in other, related markets (e.g. media streaming)
…is not „letting everyone compete“.
(such as the one for mobile operating systems and application stores)
It‘s the very opposite of fair competition.
Large tech platforms are on of the biggest threats to fair competition in digital/online markets.
And Vestager with the EU commission were the ones that did something to ensure fair competition can happen.
What are you trying to imply here? That the EU commission should have mandated more expensive Thunderbolt controllers - even though they make no difference or benefit at all in many devices - let alone for device charging?
It’s not.
0%, zero per cent commission is standard practice in general purpose computing platforms (such as Windows and macOS).
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