The right thing for users would be to allow user choice, and for Apple to compete fairly.
Apple allowing third party access doesn't automatically mean user data gets hoovered up by OpenAI, Anthropic, etc. It just means users now get the choice, if they want to make that choice. Users could stay with Siri/Apple if they care about what Apple is offering, or choose to accept the risks and terms of service with other third parties.
The EU isn't saying "you must preinstall every competitors offering" its "you must offer the ability for others to hook into the same APIs to be able to offer their own assistant on par with the first party option."
The user still remains in control by virtue of their own choice.
So some government official will scour the entire API surface of iOS and decide which ones Apple needs to expose to third-parties? They have already decided App Store and Payments APIs need to be made available. Now it looks like they also expect off-device foundation models need to be made available to third-parties.
What about making Apple Watch specific APIs in iOS be made available to all third-party watch makers so any one can bring any smartwatch and use it just as effectively as the Apple Watch with an iPhone? What about all the AirPods specific APIs that lets Apple offer a better experience with AirPods than a generic bluetooth earbuds? What about Apple Pencil? And so on... If you go down this path, the list is endless.
Don't threaten me with a good time? All of those seem like great policies. The fact that I cannot use an apple watch with an android phone is ridiculous, and vice versa as well.
At some point this is just a debate about vertical integration. Apple can deliver better experiences with it, but of course it limits user choice.
Many people want fully modular, open systems, which is lowest common denominator.
I can see both sides of the argument, but I am so skeptical of regulators deciding what can be integrated or not. If modularity is better for consumers, why don’t they prefer modular systems?
At the very least I think there should be a very clear tradeoff; right now the EU seems to think they can regulate their way to all of the benefits of vertical integration while outlawing vertical integration. I don’t see how anyone could look at that with a straight face.
Good. They are making an operating system. User choice and competition matter. I know Apple would prefer to allocate more resources to Liquid Glass animations and burying more UI elements inside “…” menus, but I personally think I don’t need any more innovation above the OS level from Apple. Especially because 80% of their changes to the application layer in 10 years have just made their platforms worse.
Let them ship a stable platform that allows applications to do tons of useful things, even when you don’t accept a mega-package of apps and services all from the first-party vendor that locks you in.
If Apple built houses, you would have to jump through hoops every time you use a microwave or lamp you didn’t buy from Apple.
That's...literally the point of these regulations. Sounds great to me.
The exact rules ultimately don't matter, because the EU is after outcomes. If the current rules don't lead to the desired outcomes, they will keep changing the rules, until they get what they wanted. (Or until their goals change.)
It's competing at the wrong level.
The iPhone is a toaster. Nobody's up in arms about whether the toaster takes other manufacturer's crumb tray. It's a television, and nobody's demanding QLED and OLED be swappable. It's a console. Xbox doesn't play PS5 games. It's fine.
There's no real line between hardware / firmware / software / malware ... For what Apple offers consumers, every layer of whateverware should be trusted.
Drawing imaginary lines based on the embodiment or substrates for logic gates is mistaken.
There are lots of phones. Lot's of different philosophies. Stop taking away consumer right to pick a philosophy and design for an end to end experience. It's fine.
I’ve read all of it, multiple times, and been grilled by EU regulators (vicariously, via corporate lawyers).
It still boils down to general guidelines that it’s impossible to know if you’re violating before the fact, and they will not even approve/reject proposals in advance. It’s basically “go read the act yourself, and ship what you think is compliant, and you’ll know whether we interpret the words the same way by whether or not we fine you.”
Good times.
This is not complicated. Even in the US, every other industry is regulated to your benefit, you're just used to it and haven't realised. Digital technology obviously needs to be too. And yes, you have to do it properly.
Apple is also restricted in the sort of consent prompts they give the user. That could matter when a non-technical users is prompted by a third party app to effectively allow unfettered access to all user personal data on the device.
Sometimes when you look at the functional requirements for a feature it turns out to be a bad idea. In the EU, functional requirements can come after-the-fact from regulator interpretation of the DMA. Until Apple determines what those requirements actually are going to be, releasing a potentially harmful feature is irresponsible.
There's nothing "fair" about this at all. It's a group of luddites in the EU who dislike how successful American companies are.
Again, the EU is stifling innovation with these backwards-looking rules. No wonder they have no innovative companies.
