The EU is doing a great job to protect consumers. Most people here view it as too far, but really it's pretty weak regulation all things considered.
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EU Plans to Fine Apple for Anticompetitive App Store Practices
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Maybe too much illusion of freedom makes Apple believe they ARE the world. Like a god or something.
Contrary to a common belief, there is no absolute freedom anywhere in the world, or even in this universe.
I am on full support of EU fighting Apple to tackle down too powerful companies like Apple.
So weak I might argue they didn’t go far enough. But one step at a time I guess.
The problem is that the EU thinks that it can come across global waters and sue any business for any number of insanely outrageous things.
An example being the ridiculous GDPR. It applies extraterritorially!
If I, just as a single person, have a website that gets traffic from the EU, and I am unaware that I'm collecting some tiny bit of info from those visitors - the EU can and will sue me. That is just insane, ridiculous and the biggest failure of the US system to protect its own citizens.
And before you say it, no - the EU will likely not come after a single person. BUT, they absolutely can. It applies even to individuals, as well as businesses.
Do you know what simple violation that can be?
My tiny site can't even collect the IP addresses of EU visitors without violating the EU's GDPR. And yes, they can sue me personally for that. Even if my site has 2 users. Again, they probably won't notice that tiny site, but if they do and want to - they 100% can and will sue me = Insanity.
For my personal sites, I honestly just block all traffic from Europe due to this. I don't need the visitors from there for my site, and also don't want to deal with the ridiculous headaches that the EU has caused across the internet, tech and the world in general.
It's only getting worse from here. Much, much worse. I'm all for privacy, but not for insane overbearing privacy laws that restrict nearly anything and everything I can possibly do to the point of stopping or challenging just about anything and everything.
So yea, that's my EU rant. And I think it's entirely valid. The EU is out of control at this point. And it 100%, absolutely affects the entire world, including my country - the USA.
No we made our choice to buy into Apples Closed Wall Ecosystem, as opposed to buying into Android and Google’s Open Ecosystem.
and it DOES affect our device,
with the Apple Ecosystem then is described as a Walled Garden. The EU now poking doors into the Wall. Well Doors can be opened and can it be guaranteed that those doors are not opened by software in the background.
I much prefer not having the doorway there at all, even if closed. A door that does not exist cannot be opened, either maliciously or accidentally.
now if people don’t want a Walled Garden then there are alternatives to Apple. I know it is sacrilege to say so but it is true.
now with the DMA then my “choice“ to have a walled garden is taken away from me.
personally I think apple should fork iOS. classic iOS for those that want to retain the Apple version wih Walled Garden, and the IShouldHaveBoughtAnAndroidOS release with multiple app stores, payment options etc.
It would be interesting to see what the actual split would be after 12 months.
And just what is the phone market share of Apple in the EU.
what amazes me is the number of comments on this thread that do not understand what a monopoly is.
And you know what the biggest issue raised when the crowdstrike issue hit was people saying why was’t Microsoft involved with the testing and distribution of the updates.
almost arguing that such things should now be done that way.
Why would those companies punish themselves by throwing away revenue? They have to follow the rules of the places they operate in (even when those rules change) and are continuing to make a lot of money doing so, what would they gain by throwing a business tantrum?
Or rather, I have my own idea of what a “better product” from Apple entails, and it doesn’t necessarily include the proposals being put forth by the EU.
There’s cause and effect, and there’s a thing as unintended consequences.
I understand more than I care to about monopolies. Apple has about a 25% marketshare in mobile phones in the EU. That is not even close to a monopoly. So, what's your point?
The laws are poorly written, hard to interpret, outside of typical anti-trust regulations, and were entirely crafted to target a few companies, exempting any EU company. In short, sure, you're absolutely right. Right by power, not morally. And that's the difference.
But hey, EU, you do you. You're losing badly in the digital age, and regulation will not save you.
Neither cares about you. One has an army and a police force, the other doesn't. One only has persuasion to buy their products. Not a close comparison.
It's not the job of governments, in my moral view, to save me from Apple's business decision. I am fully aware of how Apple operates, and I choose to buy their products BECAUSE of how they operate.
EU fans don't seem to understand that government that tries run business frequently kills more business than it creates.
Yeah, Apple has zero competition in EU. Except for the about 75% of the market they don't have.
You poor citizens in the EU, cowering under the power of the Apple, who has about 25% of the marketshare. That must be terrifying. I'm so glad you have the EU to protect you.
A company with 25% marketshare in the EU thinks they are God? These discussions just get better and better
Apple should just black out the App Store in the EU for 24 hours. See how this dictorial EU will react.
Apple, please forget EU. Just cancel them! Make separate iOS without all Apple Apps, access to App Store and no updates. Turn it into full unsecured chaos, please! EU is rotten.
I think Americans understand EU perfectly but do not appreciate that Europe got teeth. It was far easier to play the dominant partner when dealing with each (small) EU country one by one. I am surprised American citizens want and accept strong vendor lock-ins. Land of freedom?
That being said, Europe has been too passive in terms of military development and competitiveness and we can do better. When we do (and we do in some areas just not IT tech), I predict Americans will be increasingly unhappy. We hear toll towards EU from Trump because he is unhappy with the trade deficit. Apparently EU is competitive or there would not be a trade deficit. That toll will be far higher price for EU to pay than a billion $ for Apple.
Dear fellow Americans, we're not talking about sports and Apple is not your team.
You have anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws too, Apple comes from abroad and must respect ours.
Why is that so hard to understand?
You have anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws too, Apple comes from abroad and must respect ours.
Why is that so hard to understand?
How many shoe manufacturers are there in the world. How many companies sell insurance, how many gardening companies???? Loads
How many phone OS’s are there in the world?
That’s right, 2!
Penny dropped?
This makes exactly as much sense as "If you hate bullies so much, why don't you ask bullied kids to stop being nerds?"