Again, it‘s a business decision. Spotify deciding not to use Apple’s API, for whatever reason, is a business choice.
That choice doesn’t make Apple the “bad guy”. Business, and life in general, is not quite so binary.
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Spotify Blames Apple for Loss of iPhone Volume Button Control of Connected Devices
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That choice doesn’t make Apple the “bad guy”. Business, and life in general, is not quite so binary.
that thing required a smartphone. wasn't really a standalone hardware that can stream by itself.They tried, they failed
This is not accurate. When I’m listening to music one my AirPlay speakers, I can control the music volume when the music app is open. However, if I am watching a video on Twitter, the volume buttons control that video.
The buttons that control volume control whatever app is active on the screen.
It‘s not a joke - it‘s a precedent and model for other developed economies around the world.
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Haha what? AirPlay is supported on Samsung and LG TVs for starters (basically the whole market). Even my Samsung OLED monitor support AirPlay.
It basically (and only) began to be supported when Apple entered the video streaming market with Apple TV+, after failing to make their own streaming box more popular.
Apple actually offers an API for third-party music services to stream directly to HomePods, but for whatever reason Spotify has chosen not to implement it. Fortunately, iPhone users running iOS 17 can still start an AirPlay session on HomePod using a Siri command (e.g. "Siri, play Fleetwood Mac on Spotify"). It's worth noting that this change only affects Spotify Connect on iOS. Spotify users controlling volume via Bluetooth or AirPlay will not be impacted.
Because it’s a law it doesn’t mean it can’t be a joke of a law. There are clearly laws in the books which are just that.
Suggesting AirPlay is a niche product is like saying the lightning connector is a niche product — regardless of whether it’s open or not.
Until I read the last word in the last line, I actually thought you were addressing Spotfy.
I know! .. and they spent nearly 2billion on the development of this "Thing" rather than come up an actual useful device, improve services (e.g. HQ streaming) or make better deals with Labels that might actually increase revenue without playing the blame game.
Apple Music now hooks into my DJ software the same way Spotify used to. Once I port my playlists I think I'm done.
Maybe they can’t afford to invest those millions. There must be a valid reason why virtually no one besides Apple and Google has developed a
mobile OS for smartphones.
They’re both in the extremes, that’s the big problem. Android is extremely open and Apple is extremely closed. There is nothing in-between because there are practically no other mobile platforms.
if you can't afford it, why should you deserve 100% of the cut to ride on their platforms?
I can't afford to compete against Amazon, but that doesn't mean I should be able to sell my product for free on amazon.com
Hm. Not sure what your point is? Lightning will be history in a couple of years. Compare that to USB in its different incarnations.
AirPlay could be much more popular, if it wasn't confined to the Apple ecosystem. Instead, we have multiple standards for the same thing which can't interoperate. Not sure how that's a win for consumers.
It’s a win for those who have an iPhone. And since major electronics companies support AirPlay, it’s a win. But it’s not niche as lightning isn’t niche. And will be history in maybe 10 years.
Somebody needs to dismantle the EU. I agree that corporations are not my first choice. The People would be favorite.
Not practical, and the high added cost of doing so would stifle competition and create higher costs for consumers.
Imagine if all of the major network operators (e.g., AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon) had been able to force Apple to build its own network in the 2000s, there probably would never have been an iPhone.
A few tried (e.g., Microsoft, Mozilla and Samsung) but failed. Huawei's HarmonyOS launched in 2019 and is still around but remains a very distant third to dominant Android and iOS.
Spotify could certainly try to build their own device/platform it’s just that they don’t own the airwaves. But they could license the technology, build their o/s and develop their platform. Of course it’s likely to be very expansive and take years, but it would be another manufacturer and one more operating system in the cell phone space.
And?
Did Apple follow all the cellular carriers rules? Absolutely. They even convinced Cingular to not be forced to install Cingular apps on the original iPhone when it was first released. They followed the carrier rules of only allowing 10MB for app downloads over cellular. And so on.
They didn't go to the government and say "hey, carriers are greedy. I want my customers to be able to install 1GB of apps over cellular. and I want all customers to be able to use mobile hotspot without paying extra".
Yeah I heard about the windows phones back in the day, hadn’t heard about Samsung and Mozilla having tried, but in the end they all failed. Harmony OS runs on open source Android code so it’s basically an Android variant at least for now (though Huawei is certainly trying to reduce the amount of Android code in each update). Therefore, Apple and Google are the only two real OS options out there. Especially considering that the availability of Huawei phones is heavily limited in one of the world’s largest markets, the USA.