Apple Gets EU Warning to Open Up iPhone Operating System

Apple Gets EU Warning to Open Up iPhone Operating System(bloomberg.com)

23 points by yett 1 year ago | 26 comments

st3fan 1 year ago |

Finally someone is doing something about Apple's abusive practices.

The support of abusive monopolistic practices around here is something else though. Temporarily-embarrassed-tech-billionaire syndrome is the only explanation.

kmlx 1 year ago | |

> Apple's abusive practices

which abusive practices are you referring to?

malermeister 1 year ago | | |

Locking down access to NFC to smother competition to Apple Pay comes to mind.

684568 1 year ago |

I mean what else is Europe going to do? Develop its own successful products?

dmz73 1 year ago | |

Look, either you force everyone to be open to competition and interoperable or you allow everyone to lock down. How would you like all other manufacturers to do the same as Apple? BMW, VW, Ford, Mercedes, GM ec all have their own petrol stations, their own approved roads, their own approved tyres, their own approved parking spots. LG, Samsung, GE, Panasonic etc each require their own electricity distributor, their own wiring and plugs, for the washing machine their own approved clothes, for the fridge and cooking appliances their own food and cookware. Each emplyoyer requires you to buy their approved apparel and use their own aplhabet and writing system. And YOU get to pay for it all.

cbeach 1 year ago | | |

I want Apple to have competition, but I also don't want Apple to lose its unique advantages, which mostly come through the tight vertical integration between hardware and software.

If I don't want tight vertical integration, I could easily buy any number of Android devices.

EU regulators want to compromise vertical integration, which means depriving consumers of a legitimate choice many of them make.

wizzwizz4 1 year ago | |

That's difficult, without openness or protectionism. How do you compete with iOS without supporting iOS apps, iCloud, and iMessage blue bubbles? The switching costs (practical, and psychological) are too high.

st3fan 1 year ago | | |

"How do you compete with iOS without supporting iOS apps, iCloud, and iMessage blue bubbles?"

You build good alternatives for each of those.

cbeach 1 year ago | | |

Android competes very healthily with Apple in the EU!

Android is at nearly 70% OS market share: https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/europe/

[I say this as a keen iOS user]

CannoloBlahnik 1 year ago |

This seems like such a gross overstep by the EU. What's next, they push for macOS being installable on every PC?

With regard to the idea that Apple should stop selling iOS devices in the EU: https://daringfireball.net/2024/03/eu_share_of_apples_revenu...

Nullabillity 1 year ago | |

Is this Poe's law? That does sound like a very reasonable requirement (albeit perhaps relatively low priority).

CannoloBlahnik 1 year ago | | |

To be clear, I would love to be able to install macOS on any PC. As a former Mackintosh user, I'm not excited about drivers, but I'd love to see it nonetheless.

But pushing Apple to make iOS available on other phone hardware is a massive undertaking. iOS is developed for a very constrained hardware set. When you move away from that and the optimizations thereof, what's left? It's a major distraction, you'll either get a much worse experience on other hardware, or the general polish and performance of iOS takes a nose dive. I don't see why Apple would spend the money to support this the way it would need to be supported rather than leave.

cbeach 1 year ago |

I'd like to see Apple hold back more of its technology from EU users, in order that we can finally get some political pressure on the EU and their innovation-stifling over-regulation.

We're already likely to see hold-back with Apple Intelligence.

But will it be enough for citizens to pressure lawmakers?

Due to the process of law-making in the EU it's very hard for citizens to exert their will on lawmakers.

In the EU, law can only originate from the Commission, which operates behind closed doors, and comprises entirely of unelected bureaucrats (often unpopular former member-state politicians). The Commission then pushes its edicts, repeatedly if necessary, through a "Parliament" of careerist politicians until they approve it.

Here in the UK we tried, and failed, to help the EU to reform its democratic structures and burdens.

Our only remaining option was to leave this political project, and since then, we proved that the sky does not fall within a country that leaves the EU. We have secured a number of trade deals with countries outside the EU, including Japan and Australia, we have seen increased foreign direct investment, sustained low unemployment compared to many EU nations and a stabilising currency.