Yes. Finally.
I’ve been wondering when people would start mainstreaming the idea that (maybe) Apple *should* pull out of the idiotic EU. It’s not worth 7%.
Stupid (and also, politically motivated & excessively punitive) regulation *should* have consequences.
And to be clear, this isn’t out of pique.
But very explicitly drawing a line in the sand about the kind of integrated products and platform Apple makes and the brand-value proposition they represent to customers.
If the EU wants to regulate those products out of the market, that is (however incomprehensibly) their choice.
@kraigschmidt @daringfireball @jann
Here's a rather detailed overview of this "stupid" regulation that most people haven't read, and people like Gruber willingly refuse to understand: https://ia.net/topics/unraveling-the-digital-markets-act
Here's also an explainer on why it is the way it is: https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2024/facing-reality-in-the-eu-and-tech/
Can't find in me th strength to shed a tear for these corporations.
@kraigschmidt @daringfireball @jann
BTW, should Apple pull out of China, too? It has been bending over backwards implementing every single request from the Chinese government without a single complaint
@daringfireball Unfair trading conditions/commercial practices is a term of art in EU regulations, and is copiously defined here, and in linked documents.
The thing that Americans don’t get when interpreting EU anti-trust regulations is that the main thing they look at is fairness, rather than black-and-white issues, such as in the US.
@drewmccormack @daringfireball
It's a really good point. Gruber cares about corporations and their profits more than people (both customers and developers)
Everything you write about "vague" or "unfair" is a purely US view of a person who refuses to understand a worldview outside of US-branded capitalism.
Here's an article describing all the things you willingly refuse to understand:
"Facing reality, whether it’s about Apple or the EU, is a core requirement for good management" https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2024/facing-reality-in-the-eu-and-tech/
Also, your continuous "poor mega corporations who don't do no wrong" stream of easily refutable half-truths is getting tired
Also, remember "we don't need to make money on the AppStore" from Jobs himself. Good times.
But then greed prevailed. All the issues Apple is facing are entirely self-inflicted
All his points stem exactly from a purely US-centric point of view where capitalism should run unchecked and poor trillion-dollar companies can do no wrong because profits.
He literally argues that Facebook should be allowed its pervasive and invasive tracking because doing otherwise might hurt their lucrative ads setup.
And so on and so forth
Nope. He literally wrote an article about Facebook's "lucrative ads business", and how much money each user brings Facebook. And he literally wrote multiple times that "maybe EU should ban targeted advertising altogether".
@daringfireball It seems one of the most fundamental (and fundamentally unfair, in my "American" view) problems with the DMA (and maybe many EU regulations?) is that compliance is not clearly defined.
Why can't the regulatory authorities publish explicit requirements? Why must they judge after the attempt? It suggests the goal is punishment for non-compliance rather than changing the actor's behavior.
@NailClippings @daringfireball
Because the range of human activities is too broad to explicitly define in a law. Laws very rarely explicitly define the exact things people and companies can or cannot do.
That said, DMA lists plenty of explicit requirements
@daringfireball “a significant number of high-GDP countries in Europe that aren’t in the EU — the UK (most famously), Russia, Turkey, Switzerland, Norway, and Ukraine. More importantly, Apple’s “Europe” includes the entire Middle East.”
In 2021 (screenshots only top 10 EU):
• EU GDPs ~$19 trillion.
• Non-EU (~$7T) + Middle East (~$6T) = ~$13 trillion.
Wild to think the EU countries (~$19T GDP) = 7% of global Apple revenue and the non-EU + Middle East (~$13T GDP) = 18%.
@daringfireball The mac makes only 7 percent revenue. drop it.
and ipad is even less, about 6%. drop it as well.
this entire discussion is outright nonsense.
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