'For too long, Apple has operated a walled garden around its products': The EU forces Apple to open its closed system to third parties
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Of those steam is the only one that doesn't force you to buy software through them on their own hardware. Obviously they would like you to, but you are free to buy elsewhere.
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As a new user of GrapheneOS, I have yet to see the difference with regular Android except that it's way more secure.
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As someone who switched from mac to linux the whole "trapped in ecpsystem" claims are nothing I ever experience because you can actually use macos without using the apple ecosystem at all. People don't seem to understand this. MacOS is a very polished OS, it is a joy to work with. I still prefer my current setup with linux, but I think there are a a lot of things wprth criticising with Apple. People being to lazy to migrate their notes and photos is not really one of them.. Like sure, I get it with purchases but everything else can be moved easily.
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How do you leave when your friends, family and coworkers are all on iMessage and refuse to use anything cross platform? This literally affects people's professional relationships and close personal connections.
No my friend, Apple has perfected lock-in and turned it into an art. Just because it doesn't affect you doesn't mean it's not an issue.
You can see how much of an impact this has - in my (rich European) country only 30% use apple devices and everyone uses WhatsApp for communication (also not good but far better than imessage, and there's a slow shift towards signal happening)
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Well, they did get them to switch to USB-C, so I'm not holding my breath, but I do hope that this will lead to more interoperability. I'm tired of Apple making Android/non-Apple users feel like second-class citizens.
I have to agree. Switching to USB-C is a big step, but I doubt Apple will become more interoperable unless they are forced to.
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Voting with the wallet is mostly bullshit
Disagree completely. It's the most effective tool we have to control corpos that does not rely on another entity.
they bought a politician or twelve ... the only way to fight corpos is the governmental power or regulations
So, you yourself say they buy politicians, but in the same sentence, you want the people they are buying to fight their power with regulations?
Do you see where you went wrong here?
That's the whole point, when you do useless shit like buying from one corpo instead of another, they only need to buy couple of politicians to succeed. The only way for you to combat it is to elect politicians they can't buy and apply political pressure to the rest of them, so they can't buy them all. If instead of that you play their game and try to outbuy a corpo that owns half of your country already, not only you will lose every time, you are actually doing exactly they want you to do.
"No ethical consumption under capitalism" is about this, not anything else. -
Yes but only oatmeal (no toppings).
Oh goddamnit
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There isn't really any getting away with.
If what Apple does is within the law then the EU can't prevent it. I'm sure somebody is looking into preventing Apple from doing it, but propper legislation takes time.There isn't really any getting away with.
But they are. Right now.
propper legislation takes time
They should have thought of that when they created the legislation.
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Well, they did get them to switch to USB-C, so I'm not holding my breath, but I do hope that this will lead to more interoperability. I'm tired of Apple making Android/non-Apple users feel like second-class citizens.
Even then, for whatever reason, a (grantedly cheap) 3,5mm->USB-C adapter my dad bought didn't work at all on his iPhone while it works just fine on my Android
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Well, they did get them to switch to USB-C, so I'm not holding my breath, but I do hope that this will lead to more interoperability. I'm tired of Apple making Android/non-Apple users feel like second-class citizens.
I still don’t think that one was actually the EU’s doing. Macs got USB C before most PCs, iPads had it for a long time before iPhones, and iPhones switched over 10 years after Apple announced lightning saying it would be their connector “for the next decade”
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I have no doubt the EU won't have much mercy for American corporations going* forward.
My phone REALLY wants me to type gong. Gong gong gong gong gong.
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I was so hyped when the EU pressured Apple into allowing external software on Apple devices.
Apple killed that hype making the change EU only, problem is I’m encapsulated in the walled garden with an iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Air Tags, HomePods.
Thinking of getting a second phone Android based to partially-escape the garden but if I ditch my iPhone all hell will break loose network wise.
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Their entire business model has been to focus on systems that lock people in and exclude people who are out. None of this is done for security or as a means for the best possible customer experience. It's done for the sole purpose of forcing income they couldn't achieve with innovation alone.
I've heard so many tech reviewers and even my own personal friends who say they would love to switch if only to try something else. They say they'd switch today if their friends, family and coworkers wouldn't get mad at them. Apples only real innovation over the past ten years has been built in social pressure.Trying to get my family to use signal and its like pulling teeth. "Dont you want to be on the same messaging app as everyone", "sure but you're the one with a problem"
Mate, I only have a problem because of you!
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a majority of them relies on you
Imagine friends and family only want to stay in touch because they "rely" on you. Bro that's outright sad.
yeah imagine. oh wait I think I remembered something.. colleagues from work! or is it just my wild imagination? I'm not so sure anymore..
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Not the biggest fan of this tbh. People who want open standards should just not buy iOS devices. It's not that hard.
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I thought that “walled-garden” was for security and privacy in the case of Apple? I always relied on them for that.
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Not the biggest fan of this tbh. People who want open standards should just not buy iOS devices. It's not that hard.
You say that until Google realises that there is no other viable alternative and so they can do the same thing since it's not like there is another option.
I know you ca try and install other OSes, but that isn't an option for many, as many manufacturers make acquiring root access impossible.
You answer is basically a big "go fuck yourself" to everyone who bought an iphone before they knew about the things Apple did to keep users looked in. Same goes for the acquiring root access on an android phone.
People are not born with knowledge.
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you don’t care about how other people are treated
True, I do not care about how apple users are treated. They have - voluntarily - decided to buy a device that is known to be anti-consumer.
If we talk about restricting stuff like rent, food prices etc, so essentials, I'm on board. But Apple? Nah. Nobody forces you to shell out that much money for a smartphone.
They have - voluntarily - decided to buy a device that is known to be anti-consumer.
Many Apple users bought their devices before they were aware of Apple's user look in tactics, let alone how they could be problematic. Most people are not into tech, so they wouldn't know. Data on tech illiteracy.
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I still don’t think that one was actually the EU’s doing. Macs got USB C before most PCs, iPads had it for a long time before iPhones, and iPhones switched over 10 years after Apple announced lightning saying it would be their connector “for the next decade”
Apple got an special exemption the last time the EU standardised the port to Micro-USB.
The writing would have been on the wall for them. Especially as thunderbolt 3+ uses the USB-C connector, there was no guarantee the EU would give them exception again, and lightning is almost certainly not designed to handle the wattage needed to charge a Mac.
But otherwise, if not compelled, I doubt that Apple would have carried it over to the mobile devices. The timing is fortuitous, but likely because Apple has a little leeway before the EU forbade their devices/fined them for not following the law.
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You say that until Google realises that there is no other viable alternative and so they can do the same thing since it's not like there is another option.
I know you ca try and install other OSes, but that isn't an option for many, as many manufacturers make acquiring root access impossible.
You answer is basically a big "go fuck yourself" to everyone who bought an iphone before they knew about the things Apple did to keep users looked in. Same goes for the acquiring root access on an android phone.
People are not born with knowledge.
You say that until Google realises that there is no other viable alternative and so they can do the same thing since it’s not like there is another option.
Not entirely. I'm fairly sure that, if google decides to lock down pixel devices, the graphene team would evaluate other devices that are more open. The reason they recommend pixels is because they are open, not because they are big google fans. Graphene DOES run on other devices aswell, it's just not officially tested or supported. And there are other devices with unlockable bootloaders, most noteably older oneplus devices and fairphones.
You answer is basically a big “go fuck yourself” to everyone who bought an iphone before they knew about the things Apple did to keep users looked in
No, my answer is a big "go fuck yourself" to everyone who voluntarily decides to stick with apple devices despite knowing of their practices. Let's be honest for just one second: Barely any consumer is so tied into an operating system that it would prevent them from switching. What do most people do with their phones? Listen to music, have a messenger, maybe check emails, browsing - that's it. And you can do that on any other phone. The amount of people that are apple power users that use applications that only exist in the apple ecosystem is abysmal and largely irrelevant in this discussion.
Same goes for the acquiring root access on an android phone. People are not born with knowledge.
True. Neither was I. But in 2025, we have the internet and you can read up on almost anything imagineable. If I wanted to learn about astrophysics, I could find plenty of videos or resources about it. If I want to learn about japanese history during the sengoku period, there are a lot of resources about that. And if I want to learn how to unlock the bootloader of a phone and install a custom rom, not surprisingly, there are resources for that.
This "People are not born with knowledge" argument is so stupid - nobody is born with it, the problem is just that most people are too lazy to learn about their possibilites to break free from oppressing corporate conglomerates. And THAT'S something I have an issue with.
