why? isn't it the US being the most over regulated country out there, even Musk was complaining that if he wants to lunch a rocket he must first check the impact of it on the sharks swimming in the ocean and billion other stupid things etc.
and btw the headphones API is the classic Apple thing to just screw all other producers bc there is no reason for it being closed other then just pushing people into buying airpods. If you add on top of that airpods being faulty as hell, you can celarly see why people wants to have more freedom in choosing their gadgets. It's a freaking phone, and all of a sudden it is a phone where you can use only heaphones from the same brand to make it owrk correctly. How stupid it is. Like imagine you buy a microwave but you can only use it to warm up chicken from wallmart bc it would stop working with any other chicken. Don't you see the absurdity of such a stance?
When you're launching rockets that has an environmental impact both if something goes wrong during launch (as seen recently with all the airspace closures for space launch debris) and when landing and launching. And there's a public safety implication too. That's a bit different than saying a business has to open up proprietary features to third partys and claim its for consumer choice. That's a bit different and has nothing to do with consumer choice. Most of the rest of the world have very strict regulations for rocket launches and air traffic in general as well for public safety reasons.
The microwave claim doesn't work either because Apple supports many standards that allow their devices to interoperate with GSM networks (including 2G, 3G, 4G and now 5G), WiFi and Bluetooth. They will connect to any of these systems as long as they adhere to the specification no matter who made the product. That's what standards are for.
On the microwave analogy it would be more like Manufacturer A comes up with a solid way to auto identify food based on sensors in a pad put under the plate, sensors inside the oven, and software to always cook it perfectly. Lots of people buy this product because it does a better job with this use case. It can still microwave any food without the pad but without the additional features, and food can still be cooked in other microwave ovens made by others but again not to the same result. Now EU tells Manufacturer A that it is anticompetitive behavior and that they need to share their technology with everyone else so they also can have their food cooked to the same standard.
Also my AirPods aren't "being faulty as hell" and I have no issues with them at all. Do I wish there were some lower cost over the ear AirPods option? Yes.
In addition to the standards Apple offers some proprietary protocols and features within their ecosystem. The reason things like AirPod device auto switching and AirDrop work so well is because Apple controls all the hardware and software. They don't have to worry about compatibility with hundreds of third party accessories, they have to design and test with products they have full control over. Others have tried to replicate many Apple features, but they tend to end up not working very well because some devices do things differently and not all even properly adhere to standards.
Headphones API having no reason not to be open? They switch based on which devices you are using that are logged in with your Apple ID. That's how they know where to switch even in a multi user environment. It's not very easy to open this up. How is a Sennheiser user on Windows going to use Apple ID on a system level? Come up with a bluetooth standard protocol for this in a future bluetooth version and Apple would implement it eventually.
The point is you can buy headphones form Sennheiser, Sony, JBL or whoever and they will work with an iPhone because they use standard protocols with wide industry support. They just won't auto switch seamlessly with other Apple devices like Apples own products do. Yes you can't AirDrop to another platform because that is a feature Apple added in addition to all the other ways of sharing files. If there was a standard protocol maybe part of the bluetooth of wifi spec for this that worked well maybe Apple would add support.
I chose Apple products because they are stable, secure and privacy focused. If the EU forces Apple to open up proprietary features at the cost of privacy and security they are actually removing user choice.
Oh and I live in a EU country by the way. I'd much rather have them focus on removing DST, which has well documented negative health effects, than micromanage tech companies. Maybe they should focus on driving universal standards instead of forcing manufacturers to share their proprietary protocols within their own ecosystems.
