As silly as it sounds this is actually right. A billion devices is a platform, not a product. It's been this way since the late 1990s Microsoft antitrust case.
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iPad Accessory Integration Becomes the EU's Next Regulatory Feud With Apple
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It was not a dodge. The EU just wanted to grab the bucks. Apple and Ireland agreed on the taxes to be paid.
Microsoft has never had a monopoly on desktop operating systems yet it's sheer volume of customers meant it was called out for abusing its leading market position to push it's own product (in this case internet explorer) at the expense of third parties. Windows was seen as less of a product and more of a platform.
I would call Apple's 1 Billion+ devices a platform. Apple are in the same situation as Microsoft, giving it's own apps and peripherals preferential treatment at the expense of competitors. If I wanted to launch a new smart watch and sell it to iOS users I would be massively hindered by Apple's integration Vs my.own options.
Microsoft opening up their browser options gave us Chrome, Firefox, Opera and lots of other options. In spite of this, competition has also forces them to build Edge, a great product in its own right.
What some people on here, and this isn't aimed at yourself, don't seem to get is that increasing Apple's competition on their own platforms forces them to then innovate and stay relevent which in turn improves their products for everyone.
If you think this is just opinion let's look at some case studies:
- Adding USB-C to the iPhone has meant faster data transfers for large videos and SSD capture. This was not possible on Lightning and it's paltry 2.0 speeds.
- Opening up the App Store in the EU has meant emulators finally coming to iDevices, many of which are better than their Android counterparts.
- Increased competition for battery life on recent Intel and Arm Windows devices has meant Apple forcing through the M4 chip and beefing the minimum ram to 16gb (which has nothing to do with AI) on all its computers.
- Windows Phone looked lightyears ahead of iOS at the time of it's launch making Apple pull it's socks up and release iOS 7. Nobody misses the green felt.
- Owning up the iPod to Windows users sent sales and their share price until the stratosphere. It is likely without this they would still be a niche maker of cool laptops for creative users.
- The Apple Watch has had favourable ecosystem integration since day one and Apple have done little to advance it in a decade. New health features don't mean squat when the battery still doesn't even last a day.
I completely understand how Americans are historically against the idea of state overreach which is different to the more state-based approach we have in Europe. But some Apple fans (and again, I am not aiming this at yourself) seem to be so ignorant of the benefits of competition and in some extreme cases so snobbish that they'd rather put up with stagnant products just to feel like part of some made-up club.
Name one open platform that hasn't in some way benefited from open standards? The open nature of the PC alone has made it the most cutting edge gaming platform on the market with lots of consumer choice of storefronts. Gaming on the Mac on the other hand, despite what must be a large audience is rather laughable.
This isn't true though is it?
iOS stole just as many ideas from webOS, Android and Windows Phone as they did from it. All that healthy competition made your Apple products better.
The problem here is that you always have an option to not use an iPad. It does not even close to what Windows has on the PC world where the switch is way too painful. And funny enough, most alternatives also have ****** support for 3rd party pencils and you still want to buy the first party one.
By this logic, does EU want to force Sony to allow Xbox controllers to be used on PlayStation?
Wrong. The iPad Pro 1st gen did implement USB 3 over lightning and the non-Pro iPhones still has USB2.0 with USB-C so this is irrelevant. And later iPad Pros switched to USB-C before the regulation.
It has nothing to do with recent Intel and Arm Windows devices on battery life. It is just the 8GB base is way too ridiculous and hurting their sales because people don't want to pay a lot to get a useable 16GB RAM.
Congratulations, you just picked one best example on how EU will ruin competition. Now the only web engine that is not chromium base and people actually use is the webkit that Apple uses, and that is partially due to all apple devices use that. The chromium almost has monopoly now and now the web-standard becomes google standard because nothing is useful until google implements it in chromium. Remember the JPEG-XL and how much power google has on the web standard now? We have to use monopoly to fight monopoly here because it is almost impossible to implement more competitive alternatives in web engines in the near future.
You will lose against each and every phone vendors out there not only Apple. This market is free to enter but not so much free to compete. And no regulation cannot help much unless you break the free market totally.
This is because those simulators are developed before that regulation. Apps does not comes up immediately because some random regulator wants it, it was developed because people that uses it wants it.
In a word, it is still quite rediculos to me that people would think it is due to some random regulation made innovation. It is almost like you just "regulate" the cows and they will have more milk for you. Something was made was almost always because someone in the world wants that, not because random regulations enforces that.
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Sorry this is 100% false. Lightning was 100% capable of USB 3.0. There were iPads that used it. Furthermore Apple has already put out Type C iPhones with USB 2.0 controllers.
This can only be a good thing - I can finally swap out the CRAPPY Google Auto dashboard my auto manufacturer uses with Apple Car (I can dream, right) or some open source controller.
3rd party accessories are terrible at times. Rather than pay more for Apple Genuine products than most 3rd party overpriced crap. Don't like it use android
Be honest - Apple can never come into compliance if they wanted to. EU has already moved the live multiple times and has stated that the numbers in the law don't mean what the law states they do.
To steal an apt line " EU / DMA - "where everything's made up and the points don't matter!"
Uhhh… the camera placement forced the Pencil to have the magnet for charging moved. A new iPad could then have the charging magnet moved to match it and not touch the camera. This isn’t a hard concept.
But automobiles are (or quickly becoming) digital services. The move to glass dashboards and online services in all cars places them squarely in the middle of it. Here is a list of a few makes and models already playing in the space using Google Auto (or Built-In or whatever it is called this week):
- Chevrolet: Blazer EV, Colorado, Corvette E-Ray, Equinox, Silverado, Suburban, Tahoe, Traverse
- Honda: Accord, Civic, CR-V, HR-V, Pilot
- Volvo: C40 / EC40, EX30, EX90, S60
- Polestar: 2, 3, 4, 5
- Renault: 4 E-Tech, 5 E-Tech, Austral, Captur, Espace, Mégane E-Tech Electric, Master, Rafale, Scénic E-Tech, Symbioz
- Cadillac: Celestiq, CT5, Escalade IQ, Lyriq, Optiq, XT4
- GMC: Acadia, Canyon, Hummer EV, Sierra, Terrain, Yukon
- Lincoln: Aviator, Nautilus, Navigator
- Nissan: Armada, Murano, Patrol, Qashqai, Rogue
Think you missed the point. The dma is what’s yours is mine philosophy. So why go through the effort of developing new exciting innovative functionality when it will be given away?
Too bad Lamy is, from what I’ve heard, also going down the drain quality-wise. :/
Well, it’s about time the US government started looking into uncompetitive practices of European companies. Start by forbidding them to disable customer purchased equipment if 3rd party spare parts are used, or if it doesn’t phone home. Force them to provide sufficient documentation for service and repaie by independent contractors. Unlike phones or laptops, advanced metalworking equipment is supposed to be serviced and repaired multiple times on regular basis over its lifetime.
Also, all documentation shall be in English. All documentation used for service or repair shall be using both metric and imperial units. All electrical calculations provided shall be done using North American power frequency, not European power frequency.
I could probably write a 60 page specification for starters…
Also, all documentation shall be in English. All documentation used for service or repair shall be using both metric and imperial units. All electrical calculations provided shall be done using North American power frequency, not European power frequency.
I could probably write a 60 page specification for starters…
You have backwards. It's what I paid for is mine and no corporation should artificially prevent me from using it how I want.
I as a consumer should be able to have a good experience regardless of where I bought my stylus. If I like the Pixel watch it should still function well with my iPhone in terms of me being able to text, receiving notifications etc.
In other words, let Apple do the work of creating all these APIs which they are then expected to make publicly available for free?
Personally, I feel it can be done, but with 2 concessions.
1) Apple should be allowed to license these APIs the same way companies such as Qualcomm charge royalties for their FRAND patents. Apple should not be blocked from monetising their IP. Otherwise, why bother?
2) I feel it is not unreasonable to allow Apple some sort of first mover advantage. For example, let Apple use any new API for itself for say, a year first, before the rest of the competition gets access to it.
This way, there is still incentive for Apple to continue innovating, but third parties don’t get permanently locked out of their ecosystem.
Else, how is this any different from nationalising a US asset? I get that it doesn’t make financial sense for Apple to exit the EU, but surely there has to be a breaking point?
Right. They are requiring that apple give away its ip for free.
No it gets diluted.
Yea on the back of someone’s else’s hard work.
No, it’s the exact argument.
You can buy whatever you want. Apple isn’t required to produce a product for your specs.
No, it’s square on the money.
Do what you want with the product. Companies don’t have to help you out.
Vote with your $$$.
And you should be able to out a Porsche engine in a Honda accord.
I think the last few posts have kind of proven my point here. I'll get my coat. It seems like a lot of people here didn't get the satire of Robocop. These big companies are not your friend. They exist to extract as much profit as possible from consumers. This is how capitalism works.
There is nothing wrong with this, but the point of a government is to represent the needs of the people so that large commercial entities do not overstep the mark and exploit the market.
It seems like some people here would prefer some sort of fascist future where the world is ran by unaccountable corporations rather than democratically elected officials.
I would recommend anyone who is sceptical of the EU acting in the best interests of it's voters to go and look up the Standard Oil case of 1910.
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