Gregory's Server
@mark It is very funny to refer to a company deliberately violating regulations put in place against that specific company as "pushing back against the entire EU".
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11 comments
 Let them pull out of the EU. It's not like it's a 500-million-people largely quite wealthy market that Apple could ill afford to loose. I can't shed a tear for a supranational extremely arrogant US megacorp who thinks they are mightier than God and deserve anything and everything they want and demand  @dmitriid @stevestreza indeed, I think that's the next play in this game. I believe Apple is seeking to determine whether a 500-million-person-quite-wealthy demographic is dependent enough on their ecosystem of products and services that they would be willing to leverage the power such wealth and influence brings to try and push back on the EU's new laws. What soft power can they leverage that will make it politically inconvenient for the EU to continue to pursue this gatekeeping strategy? You mean, what soft power can we leverage to make it inconvenient for Apple to pursue its gatekeeping strategy. I also like that you basically say "Apple should figure out how to hold Europeans hostage to get whatever it wants" As for the EU, first understand what the EU is and does: https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2024/facing-reality-in-the-eu-and-tech/ Thank you for this very detailed and measured response! I could argue or disagree with some minor points, but that would not be productive. The only "big" disagreement I have is "if Apple withholds services in compliance with the law" in that this assumption rests on Apples claims. And we've already seen in the past how Apple reversed course after making similar claims. But yeah, it truly is a huge weird bet, so we'll need a lot of popcorn to watch how it plays out.  @mark @dmitriid @stevestreza Apple, like us, has historical evidence that Google prefers to follow Apple than compete. Android is not very different than iOS. Apple may even have personal relationships or contracts that make Google’s position more likely to be that of follower than competitor. Google could surprise us all though. EU regulations certainly give Google reason to break with Apple’s direction and I would hope they’d capitalise on it if Apple withheld features in EU. @mark @dmitriid @stevestreza I think Apple is not risking much by _threatening_ to withhold features: they can change their mind at any time, so small competitors would be taking a big risk trying to compete in those areas and Google will be competing anyway. They do risk confusing and annoying EU customers, but I guess they think the sabre-rattling helps negotiations with the EU or they’re doing it to manage stock market expectations. @callionica @mark @stevestreza I doubt that Google is institutionally capable of doing anything in this regard. Ads are their only revenue source, and this permeates every decision they make. Add to that the many internal warring factions, and you get a surprisingly disfunctional company that shifts directions almost every year.  @mark Are you aware of how fully Apple has capitulated on their products and human rights in, say, China? @stevestreza |
@stevestreza How could it be otherwise? If the EU wants to go to war with Apple and Apple wants to take up the banner instead of capitulating to a foreign power, what would you recommend we call it?
Apple isn't based in the EU and it can, in fact, pull up stakes and simply not offer products and services that are incompatible with the EU's opinion of how the internet should be run to EU citizens (and then leave it to the citizens of the EU to use their democratic authority to change those incompatibilities. Or to decide they prefer it the EU's way and they'd rather not have Apple's products and services. Or to discover that they never had those Democratic authorities in the first place, and then... Uh oh! In the 21st century, most war is economic war).
@stevestreza How could it be otherwise? If the EU wants to go to war with Apple and Apple wants to take up the banner instead of capitulating to a foreign power, what would you recommend we call it?
Apple isn't based in the EU and it can, in fact, pull up stakes and simply not offer products and services that are incompatible with the EU's opinion of how the internet should be run to EU citizens (and then leave it to the citizens of the EU to use their democratic authority to change those incompatibilities....