Apple ordered by EU antitrust regulators to open up to rivals

> Headphone smart handoff (I don't even think this is possible with any standard technology, so I'm not sure what they're looking for here compliance wise)

Multipoint is part of the bluetooth standard already, Apple just has to provide a means for the headphones to determine which stream to play.

> Proximity pairing (I also don't know that this is possible with any standard technology...)

Fast Pair exists for Android and allows third parties to implement it. It's not a standard but it doesn't have to be, Apple just has to make the proprietary capability available for mfgs to implement if they want. The fact that Google+random OEMs can do it on android using off-the-shelf BT chips should show that its feasible for Apple as well.

The unintended consequence of this is that it effectively elevates Apple's protocols and methods to standards, without any kind of industry consultation.

The reason that's a bad thing is because the standards are filled with nuance to suit a range of scenarios that extend well beyond the custom methods that Apple have built to match the limits they chose for their particular accessories.

Due to Apple's size, this removes power from the decision making bodies and hands it over to Apple's entirely private process. It also hamstrings development for standards that would have emulated certain Apple features, since the "why bother" factor comes into play.

Meanwhile I don't actually hold much hope out for these changes to "increase competition". To use AirPods as an example. The only difference between setting up and using the AirPods versus a set of standard bluetooth earphones is the flashy set up process. Yes the Apple process is faster, but the normal process is not at all inconvenient, and Apple did not make any changes to add friction to that process. In every other way the devices will function identically. The popularity of the AirPods instead comes from the decent sound, range, battery life and stable connection - these aren't things Apple can fix for junky competitors.

The EU seems unable to discern the difference between success from merit versus success from lack of competition, their clumsy and ineffectual attempts to change the market for their advantage demonstrate that, meanwhile everyone has to deal with the unintended consequences.

> Anyone who's maintained a private vs. a public API knows that one is orders of magnitude more expensive than the other.

Maybe this will finally give Apple something to do with their $100 billion cash on hand.

> If you get big enough, they swoop in and make you turn everything you've invented into an open standard?

Consider 20th century AT&T. They were the phone company in America, owning approximately all telecommunications hardware, including the physical handsets in consumer's homes (they were rented).

Competition with AT&T was in no uncertain terms entirely impossible. The cost to lay down even a fraction of the cables that AT&T owned was so astronomical that only government entities like cities could afford it. The main problem being that most of the cables are on other people's property and negotiating easments is incredibly expensive and unbelievably slow.

How could any competition be possible? AT&T owns the wires to 98% of all telco customers, and running new wires is all but impossible.

The US government forced AT&T to allow other telecom companies to use their wires. The Bell subsidiaries had to physically built out their COs to accommodate new equipment owned by other companies. This prompted hundreds or thousands of new companies to pop up and started market competition overnight.

AT&T got slapped down hard, but the net result for consumers was more choice, better prices, new and better services. The only reason consumers got DSL was as a scheme to sidestep the charge for handling a "call" over the shared wires. If the wires weren't shared and exploited, Bell would have kept everyone on dialup much longer.

So yeah, I think if you get big enough, your services become so vital that they become a public good. The telephone system went from a private monopoly to a public utility and the benefits to consumers and society is incalculable.

The intention is to not allow hardware vendors to give themselves an edge on said hardware when it comes to software and services.

You can sell hardware just fine without having to disclose anything .

When you want your "hardware" to become a "platform" and offer a lot of other services on it (including distributing third party software) then you have to provide a level playing field.

And you being very large means that you can afford to add another API to the documentation.

> If you get big enough

Don't worry, you have a higher chance of getting hit by an meteorite while doing jumping jacks while riding a giraffe than getting big enough to be covered by DMA/DSA.

> Proximity pairing

Bluetooth?

> AirPlay

Chromecast exists and is quite open, this is not rocket science.

> AirDrop

Bluetooth and the new thing where you can just send to a nearby Android phone exist, again, really not rocket science.

And etc etc etc. None of these are some prorpietary unsolvable issues (like if the EU had said that they have to allow anyone to build their own M-chips), it's just that Apple choose to only make them work with their ecosystem.

> I get the push for openness in devices but I'd never want to sell hardware in Europe, honestly

Then don't.

I am certain other companies would be fine occupying that space.

> They're trying to compel Apple to deliver interoperability for basically every unique Apple feature

IANAL but the impression I got wasn't that they are requiring Apple to deliver interoperability, just that Apple can't block it. I.e. they can't create APIs that enable those things and not allow third parties to invoke them.

Apple is a monopoly due to their closed ecosystem. They do have a monopoly on headphones that properly work with iphones, operating systems that properly work with apple computers, operating systems and application delivery mechanisms that work with iphones, etc. They could get rid of their legal problems by being more open and supporting open standards, but they don't want to. So as a monopoly, they have to be forced...

it seems awfully similar.. MS using their dominance in the OS market to establish dominance in the application software market vs apple using their mobile phone to establish dominance in smart watches, etc.. the scale is a bit different since we have the duopoly in the mobile market, but it still doesn't seem like something we want.

It was around the time Apple was about to go bankrupt when Microsoft had about 95% share.

Compare this to iPhone activations of new phones which is at 33% and declining [1]. Which means Android's market share of 70%+ is going to get larger over time.

https://9to5mac.com/2024/04/24/iphone-market-share-new-low-a...

It's not about a monopoly. That word never occurs in the document. It's about interoperability and nurturing a market.

I quote from the EU document

> connected devices of all brands will work better on iPhones. Device manufacturers will have new opportunities to bring innovative products to the market, improving the user experience for consumers based in Europe.

About developers:

> The measures will accelerate their ability to offer a wider choice to European consumers of innovative services and hardware that interoperate with iPhones and iPads.

The DMA defines gatekeepers as "large digital platforms providing so called core platform services, such as for example online search engines, app stores, messenger services" and lists their obligations prohibitions. Apple is one of them because it's sufficiently large.

Smaller companies are not gatekeepers and are out of the scope of the DMA.

AirDrop has 100% monopoly on iPhone. iPhone has 0% other ways to share files via bluetooth than AirDrop.

As a user, I must be able to switch platforms at the end of the lifespan of a phone or Mac. So, buy a non-mac computer and then later a non-iPhone phone. So things need to interoperate.

That position from the EU is genius because it’s capitalism at its highest form. (Next is, all Windows apps must work on Macs, sounds like a joke but you’ll notice we already live in a world where they’re all webapp/electron, so it’s literally not a problem).

right.. but Apple watches and headphones get to use secret/enhanced calls. Apple payment software as well, basically all the things on the EU's list are using some form of the same idea to restrict any other vendor from having comparable functionality.

For those curious: It's somewhat documented if you read between the lines that the "secret APIs" that everyone was afraid of were really things like string management and what-have-you in a shared library among many different Microsoft products.

Meanwhile, Apple has a habit of hiding functionality behind a lot of obscure API calls that aren't documented and require special entitlements to call.

Pages doesn't do anything that interesting. There are private APIs that Apple apps use or that they gatekeep. https://www.idownloadblog.com/2021/05/10/apple-zoom-ipad-cam...

Can you say the same thing about iCloud, AppStore?

But Apple is literally doing the same. They sell apple watch that uses secret system calls that no competitor can use.

Thanks!

More detailed links have been posted already in the thread.

But I want Reuters/etc to include these links.

Let’s make the source of the main claims of an article mandatory, and see who screams.