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Why do people defend Apple for this?
Cult of brand.

Seriously, Apple fanatics are some of the most disturbing cheerleaders you'll come across. It's pretty embarrassing how so many Apple die hards profess their allegiance to inanimate objects. You can DEFINITELY put a lot of the blame for this psychotic devotion to a brand on Guy Kawasaki, he is 100% responsible for the term and expansion of 'Apple Evangelism.' What he is to the tech world is what the Kardashians are for social media; a cancer.
 
Why have a port at all?
Apple Watch doesn't have one.
Charge wirelessly and use WiFi or cell service for data transfers.
25% wasted energy even with magsafe alignment because wireless charging is still inefficient. The wasted energy adds up when millions of iPhone users will use it. "environment friendly".
 
Because this is the EU and they are dumb and out of touch.
I oppose almost everything they're doing - but I admire why they're trying to do it. I hate to call them dumb but they don't know enough about technology to make these mandates. If they had their way, all phones would have been forced to use micro-USB just as USB C was emerging. They really tried that... And I guess we can assume that there will never be another form factor for USB C as it will not be allowed by the EU. What happens next? USB D comes along, and nobody can use it on their phones, so we have USB C to USB D cables to charge. Then, the EU changes the mandate to every phone needing USB D, when they decide. Not when customers want that, when the EU wants it. That's just never going to work.
 
And that is the only reason Apple doesn't want banks to gain access to NFC. They're getting a cut for every transaction and similar to the cut in the App Store, it's huge for them.
FYI, banks want Apple to take that cut as they're taking a smaller cut than is traditionally taken and they're taking the liability for fraudulent scans. Which means Apple is responsible for making sure someone else can't use your phone to make a transaction...which is why they are concerned about security...
 
25% wasted energy even with magsafe alignment because wireless charging is still inefficient. The wasted energy adds up when millions of iPhone users will use it. "environment friendly".
Qi chargers are even worse, so which phones are more environmentally friendly?
 
I wonder why that is.

Glad I don’t live in a country that can’t comprehend basic security concepts.
yea i would ask you to look the rate of card fraud in EU and USA. EU mandates card providers use higer standards of security such as card and pin or electronic signature for online payment, discourage offline payment ability etc etc

we even have smaller card fees
 
you can't use Apple Pay there? does that mean those big chains dont support credit cards since behind every Apple Pay transaction is basically just your visa / Mastercard? ApplePay automatically works anywhere, where there is a "Visa" logo here.
They just don't enable the NFC on their payment terminals. A large grocery chain near us just put in all new payment terminals but kept NFC turned off on them. You have to pay with chip cards or with the chain's own payment app (that probably uses QR codes).
 
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This what Apple tells you. But the real and only reason for this is money. It is all a part of Apples wallet garden business model. It is simply not true that you can not implement secure payment if you allow access to NFC.

But take this:
Apple could have allowed a system, where you can select a payment provider (piece of software that follows an interface description). The new payment provider could use a different clearing method, that differs from ApplePay.

So there are tons of possible solutions, to open the NFC interface to developers.

Another one - a developer could use an Apple certificate if he wants to access the interface (like it is done with e.g. Push Notifications today).

Apple is only blocking access cause it has the role of the gatekeeper and it doesn't want to allow competition on its platform. Apple iOS strategy is "Lock competition out, lock customers in" - this is also documented in Apple internal emails:

https://www.theverge.com/c/22611236...-liberty-app-store-schiller-sweeney-cook-jobs
What you described at the start of this does not in any way come to the conclusion you described at the end.

Your 2010 Steve Jobs email quote there was at the time that all three of the biggest tech companies realized that ecosystem is what really keeps you afloat. I guarantee you that you'll find a similar Microsoft and Google email from that same period if we could see it.

The thing about falling back on a 12 year old email to describe every single situation is that it's 12 years old and it doesn't pass the smell test when Apple is slowly opening this up already.
 
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Big tech and their many products and solutions have become pillars of modern society -There's no way our governments can simply let them profit freely off our infrastructure without restrictions.

Anyone who thinks the EU shouldn't meddle doesn't grasp the magnitude of Apple's impact on our lives.

All of this is just common sense.

Yes, they should meddle. But they should do it with a consortium of technology vendors and SMEs. The decisions they've already made were tragically bad - they tried this same mandate with micro-USB. where would we be if it succeeded?
 
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Cult of brand.

Seriously, Apple fanatics are some of the most disturbing cheerleaders you'll come across. It's pretty embarrassing how so many Apple die hards profess their allegiance to inanimate objects. You can DEFINITELY put a lot of the blame for this psychotic devotion to a brand on Guy Kawasaki, he is 100% responsible for the term and expansion of 'Apple Evangelism.' What he is to the tech world is what the Kardashians are for social media; a cancer.
It's funny because the real cult here are those who refuse to listen to anyone who isn't criticizing Apple. We've gone through that Machead era and come out on the other side to the Apple Hater Legion era.

Disagreeing with the EU does not mean defense of Apple. Do I trust Apple to do everything right? No. Do I trust a government body to regulate the progress of technology? HELL NO. And I'm a government employee who usually would side with the government in situations like this.

There's a vast misunderstanding here with those who are so quick to jump on the EU bandwagon that there is no "other side" to this, that it only helps "consumers". That's not the case here. Especially when you have the choice to use a more popular platform with Android, and ESPECIALLY in Europe where iOS is even less used than the US. I have Windows and UNIX to deal with the wild west. If Apple weren't using open standards to do these things, I'd oppose it. But think back about 6 years to when Apple Pay came along and how quickly every other company copied them on Android. Google Pay and Samsung Pay didn't exist, they were just NFC wallets. Apple built a framework for this, and they do need the time to continue building and opening it up gradually.
 
both currently have bad efficiency so wired charging.
But prior to MagSafe, iPhones used Qi charging. Apple increased the efficiency by literally 50%. I'm not saying it's the best option, but to call them out like they're lying about environmental friendliness when they factually met convenience and efficiency half way is disingenuous.

I share your concern about power wasted on wireless charging, however. Though, I'd like to see the real world numbers on it some day. Our best energy storage methods are about 80% efficient, so would that extra power have been stored on the grid anyway? Would it really only be a 5% loss? Will it get even more efficient in the near future?
 
But prior to MagSafe, iPhones used Qi charging. Apple increased the efficiency by literally 50%. I'm not saying it's the best option, but to call them out like they're lying about environmental friendliness when they factually met convenience and efficiency half way is disingenuous.

I share your concern about power wasted on wireless charging, however. Though, I'd like to see the real world numbers on it some day. Our best energy storage methods are about 80% efficient, so would that extra power have been stored on the grid anyway? Would it really only be a 5% loss? Will it get even more efficient in the near future?
I'm not opposed to wireless charging but they need to improve the efficiency further before removing the port.
 
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Obviously they aren't opening the API because of security...not sure what the wink was about.
He said because Apple isn't opening up the API, there are workarounds in his country to which you responded they are not secure. If Apple would give high level API access to NFC, these workarounds would be a thing of the past.

I'm asking again, what security implications do you have when opening up a high level NFC API? What would an attack vector look like? I assume you have developed such applications before and have a background in security. If that's not the case, then why make that argument? Sure, it's Apple marketing, but nothing else.
Physical security is what is at risk, he's referring to allowing direct NFC access so you can load up any NFC profile to it. That means anyone could take your phone and make a charge as no app access or authentication is needed.
Such a high level API wouldn't allow direct NFC access, that happens in kernel space with the driver on top. That's not needed for what's asked here. That being said, physical security is already at risk as I've said earlier in their thread. Apple Pay + Visa has been compromised in 2021, while Samsung Pay + Visa was safe for the same exploit.
What I can say is that allowing another wallet using the current API would not solve his problem. Also, building another wallet for the iPhone is one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard of.
That's not what's asked from such a high level API.
FYI, banks want Apple to take that cut as they're taking a smaller cut than is traditionally taken and they're taking the liability for fraudulent scans. Which means Apple is responsible for making sure someone else can't use your phone to make a transaction...which is why they are concerned about security...
So why do banks raise monthly/annual fees for bank account when using Apple Pay and they don't do it for customers not using Apple Pay?

Rhetorical question though, as Apple isn't really taking liability for scans. They play the blame game. And neither do banks ask them to do it. I'm not sure where you're getting that info... from your bank? Some of my colleagues came from the financial market developing digital payment and transaction methods for banks before they have received their professorship in computer science and/or mathematics. They're still consulting with leading banks and they have not heard about it. One of my former CS students wrote his thesis at Apple and is now working at a global leader for digital payments and transactions and this is also completely new and unheard of there.

Anyway, let's look at it from a technical/security point of view first. Please describe an attack vector for such a high level API that would make it such as risk.
 
Once this passes look for support for ApplePay and the Wallet app to fall as everyone makes users use their own banking apps for payments :(

Meanwhile in the US we have large chains actively doing doing everything they can to block contactless payments (Walmart, Kroger, Home Depot, Lowes).
 
No user is demanding? Well, they will start once banks/credit card companies pass on the Apple pay cost to the customers if they use Apple pay instead of using the bank/CC app. Let us see how many would be interested in Apple pay.
good then that it's illegal for banks or merchants to transfer this fee to the consumers in EU xD
 
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The problem is German and Dutch banks that don’t want to know how to get Apple’s fees eaten.

And since Germany and Holland command in Europe Vestager can do nothing else.
 
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Why do people defend Apple for this? Such restrictions severely limited iPhone’s capabilities. My friends are able to authenticate at the main gate simply by swiping their Android phones while iPhone users have to search for their card in their wallet every time. Popular payment systems in my country are also forced to use QR code instead of NFC because iPhones don’t have support (Apple Pay is available but nobody really uses it). As an iPhone user I’m frustrated by such software limitation and absolutely supports EU on this.
Why is it apples fault another company will not work with them? Your examples are terrible and there are easy work around for all of them. Instead of QR codes they could just make cards with NFC built in. That’s cheap…anyone can do it now.
 
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This is all about companies fighting for money and some people pretending it’s consumer rights. I favor all hardware on the phone usable to everyone but this is basically other companies want access to apple customers and want to get money apple is potentially getting. That’s it. Nothing romantic about it.

And what do other companies do when they want another companies money in the modern world…they ge the govt involved. And so here we are.
 
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