Got to give it to them, it's almost impressive how they found the most useless and malicious way to comply with the new regulations. I can only hope that the EU doesn't let that stand. EU bureaucrats never work fast though, so Apple probably succeeded in keeping their monopoly for at least a few more years.
On the other hand I feel like this shows just how vulnerable they are, if someone like the EU is actually there to regulate them.
If they'd think that they had a significantly superior product they wouldn't act this brazenly malicious at every turn.
The amount of money at stake is just too high. They will go to extreme lengths to counter this.
China: “Remove all VPNs” Apple: “Sure thing”
China: “…and podcast apps” Apple: “Can do boss!”
China: “…and also hand over all iCloud data for our citizens” Apple: “I mean why wouldn’t we? Here you go!”
EU: “Allow alternate app stores, and do it fairly” Apple: “Ahhh hell no! This is so unfair you guys are bullies! Malware! Privacy! We have standards! Unlike you we care about our users!”
Manipulating public opinion might work better in democracies than with authoritarian regimes. It's just businesses.
Insane.
I mean, it's absolutely petty, yes. OTOH, while it worded as being aimed at EU users spending a short while outside of the US, it's very clearly aimed at non-EU citizens trying to also profit from the EU ruling.
Example: if a US citizen takes a weeklong trip to Italy, they now have access to third-party stores, but Apple basically makes them unusable as soon as they're stateside. Can't have nice things.
Even if it's not aimed at EU citizens, they're collateral damage. And the only reason is that they don't want non-EU citizens to be able to benefit from this.
(The security risks this carries for EU citizens prove that this is not for security.)
how gracious!
Because everyone knows not getting updates is great for the "security and privacy" Apple claims to care so much about!
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