No one is saying you can't speak up for Apple. But it's rather strange to speak up for the one of the biggest corporations of the world. Do they really need defending?
To me it makes more sense when users/consumers speak for themselves for their needs and wishes. And wishing not having DMA is somewhat weird when you're not getting one in your country in the first place - and there's no discussion about it either as you yourself noted...
Also I stand behind my claim, that non-EU crowd seems to be most vocal in the DMA thing. And that's just ridiculous when it's not affecting them the slightest.
Right is right and wrong is wrong.
Regardless, I guess this is the sort of discussion that will dominate the Macrumours message boards for the rest of the decade. Can't say it's really my cup of tea.
To set the proper context, one needs to remember that for the last decade, Apple was positioned as one iPhone update away from implosion. Low market and sales share (relative to Android) were paraded around as signs of an incompetent product strategy. Simply put, Apple was framed as being weak and vulnerable, dependent on revenue sources that could disappear overnight due to consumers fleeing to the competition.
This was the sort of clickbait that dominated tech blogs and news headlines, and people lapped it up. Instead, Apple went on to defy all criticism and conventional wisdom to become the trillion dollar company it is today.
Today, that narrative has completely shifted, because it's clear that talk of Apple having "lost its way" simply wasn't working anymore. Everyone and their mother is now infatuated with Apple’s power, its ironclad grip over the App Store, and the idea that Apple users are stuck or imprisoned in a massive walled garden where things like iMessage, Apple Watches, and AirPods force people to remain within Apple’s walls. Government regulators are viewed as the only entity capable of protecting Apple users from Apple (we saw this as early as the Epic trial in 2020).
Every inch of ground that Apple gives up in order to accommodate the DMA is interpreted as them being humiliated and "put in their proper place", as though it somehow makes up for the last 10+ years of having been wrong about what makes Apple tick. I don't think that many people here are genuinely interested in the merits and pitfalls of the DMA (how many here are even impacted by it?). They just want to see Apple proven wrong and being humbled.
Thinking that Apple users are somehow being forced against their will to buy products like Apple Watches or subscribe to Apple Music is nothing more than competitors such as Spotify looking for someone to blame for market failures when the problem is found internally with a bad vision, inadequate corporate culture, and lack of understanding as to what makes Apple unique.
While the CEOs of companies like Epic and Spotify shooting their mouths off do make for juicy headlines capable of grabbing people’s attention, I am confident that they won’t play a major role in Apple’s future. Apple will continue to develop a dynamic ecosystem consisting of great experiences that customers are willing to pay for. Meanwhile, I simply don't see a route to Spotify being profitable anytime soon, if ever, and nothing in the DMA looks like it will remedy this.
Apple will continue to be its biggest competitor. Keep that in mind the next time anyone here feels tempted to utter the hackneyed phrase "more competition is good for the customer". 😉
hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
