1) Do I think the sky will fall on March 6th due to these EU-only app stores? No. But that's not the point.
2) Do I think EU users will be flooded with malware on March 6th? No. But that's not the point.
3) Do I think Non-EU users are going to suffer from this change on March 6th? No. But that's not the point.
Here's MY point: Who should make these decisions? Government Agencies or a Free & Fair Marketplace? Apple or the EU?
A) I think the EU deciding on USB C was really silly. Apple was already in the process of transitioning. And I don't agree with any of the "look at all the money we'll now save by not buying multiple cables." Forcing people who already owned lightning cables and adapters to change forced them to buy new cables. Change in such things is inevitable in technology, and I trust Apple to watch out for my interests more than I trust the EU.
B) The cookies thing is a perfect example of stupid politicians who have no real insight doing something stupid. Those pop-ups achieve exactly the opposite of the intended effect. Now, because nobody can take the time to read the fine print on every web site, we simply click "accept" and move on. But the result of this is that those web sites can put whatever they want and we've "agreed" to it without actually knowing what we've agreed to. The EU simply forces me to give tacit approval now to whatever that web site is doing. They haven't solved any problems. I trust Apple to provide better solutions on this front than I trust the EU, who has proven in this instance how idiotic politicans can be (and I worked in politics and government for more than 20 years).
C) The EU is motivated to reduce security on the iPhone to enhance it's ever-increasing surveillance of everyday citizens. They are NOT motivated to increase security. And even if they were, as the above mentioned cookies debacle shows, Government is frequently ham-handed in its attempts to do anything better left to the market and technology companies.
D) I don't think the EU cares about metrics at all with this new legislation. They won't measure any outcomes. This was not about consumer protection at all. This is naked protectionism, pure and simple. Whether prices are lowered or not, whether security is increased or not, whether consumers are better off or not will not be calculated, and will have no sunsetting affect on this legislation. As many of you have noted, the hoped-for changes are not generally found in the Android world.
E) The IOS market IS different than the Android Market. It is a much more valuable market because it has a more valuable customer base. This will, in my estimation, make it much more likely for big 3rd parties like Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, etc. to do everything they can to access and sell to Apple's curated customer list without providing any compensation back to Apple. This will have the affect of splitting the IOS market into segments, and will usher in a cat-and-mouse game between Apple and the big players. Who care much less about customer experience than they do getting free access to a resource they didn't build.
F) This will not stop here. The EU obviously has much deeper plans. Cookies, USB C, Alternate App Stores are just the appetizer. What these actions are doing is taking these decisions away from consumers and business, and inserting government into what is best left to consumer choice and markets.
G) In a world of increasing surveillance and privacy concerns, I have purposely chosen to centralize my computing on Apple devices. I chose this walled garden. Again, do I think the sky will fall in immediately? No, and to characterize mine and others' concerns in this manner is disingenuous. The concern here is that the EU is trying to crack open a system that I and many (most?) Apple users have chosen specifically because it is closed. Do I think security will immediately suffer? No. But I take a long-term view on these issues, and I've decided a closed system is better for me and my family than is an open system.
H) Apple is not a monopoly, and to keep arguing that it is employing "anti-competitive behavior" in a context in which they only have about 27% marketshare is to radically misrepresent the ideas of anti-competitive behavior. "Gatekeeper" is an invented term to get around the long-held notions of monopoly in order to specifically target non-EU technology companies.
I) IOS and MacOS have fundamental differences. And, Apple, in my estimation, is moving away, rapidly, from the MacOS model toward the IOS model. You may not like that. You may hate it. But I DO like it. I have chosen it. Saying "IOS will only be just like Mac OS, so what's the problem?" is a disingenous argument. It doesn't recognize the reasons for the development of IOS as it has been developed. But again, even if you hate it, I don't. And many others have chosen IOS for these reasons.
J) You actually CAN choose Android if a more open system is your preference. This "I'm locked into Apple forever and ever and can't get out!" argument is silly.
K) Good luck relying on the EU to decide all of these issues for you. I don't trust the EU to have my best interests at heart. Best of luck to you if you do.
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