> But EU consumers will be very angry at Brussels.
Why would they be angry at Brussels? If Apple decides to pull out of the EU market that's on them. EU citizens will be a lot less angry at Brussels than Apple's shareholders will be.
EU consumers will travel to other countries or buy through second hand markets, which is what happens in Russia now. Apple will lose little revenue. Apple can easily spin this as a win to shareholders showing how much competitive advantage was preserved by not having to build the EUs interoperability demands.
In the end the EU consumer gains nothing from all of this but loses their beloved Apple devices.
Well, then Apple should do it, tomorrow. For sure it won't even register on their annual report then.
> In the end the EU consumer gains nothing from all of this but loses their beloved Apple devices.
I don't think I have an emotional connection with my phone, it serves to call people, message them and to perform other useful functions and if it does not it gets replaced. I'm happy with it, it's a solid piece of gear and it has served me well. But emotional connections with brands or pieces of easily replaceable hardware are unhealthy.
Can you have an "anti-"emotional connection to a brand? The iPhone for me is missing a critical feature, which is ability to run the software I choose even if it didn't come from the App Store. Which means that brand is dead to me until that situation changes.
Not particularly happy with Google for other reasons either. There are some days I want to go back to the days of Windows Mobile ROM kitchens and PalmOS. At least it wasn't such a monoculture back then.
Yes, that's a problem, but this is akin to all of the other ways in which things are no longer properly sold but come with all kinds of strings attached. My computers are mine, and I determine what is being run on them. I realize that puts me in a - small - minority but I prefer to own things than to rent them. I don't want an ongoing relationship with vendors beyond the initial transaction and possibly warranty issues.
This informs a lot of my choices. It's the reason my car is old, it's the reason my computer is running Linux, it is the reason why I don't wear branded apparel and it helped me decide where to bank. But I fear that it is a losing battle.
The monoculture that you refer to creates choke points and legislators love those. It gives an illusion of control, but actually it is just a massive security risk.
Press releases are for the public, they are essentially holding their own users hostage, and users that don't see this for what it is deserve all the misery they will get. But you're not going to be able to pretend that Apple isn't solely responsible for following the law in those places where they want to make money. If they don't want to comply with the law that is on them, not on the legislators. And it's high time that these companies learned they are not larger than the nation states where they operate, no matter how rich they are.
> obviously they’re going to try and talk it out first with the EU
Will they? They were never willing to talk it out to begin with. And now they completely walked out:
--- start quote ---
“Apple has simply contested every little bit of the DMA [Digital Markets Act] since its entry into application,” said Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier. “This undermines the company’s narrative of wanting to be fully cooperative with the Commission.”
...
“Results of this positive engagement? After two months, Apple came back and asked us to scrap everything,” he said
It's a game of leverage. Apple is stoking the fire to make consumers angry hoping the EU to pull back. EU is pushing forward hoping that there will not be enough popular opinion to sway its decision. In this case, I think EU has far bigger leverage.
