eXtensions - Friday 12 July 2024
By Graham K. Rogers
The ways the EU has examined Apple in the last few years have caused Cupertino to make several changes to its devices and software. There is now a special EU version of iOS. There are perhaps more changes to come as the EU and other legislative bodies examine the ways digital technology works for the corporations and the users in different markets. The last eMac was shipped 18 years ago this month. Plus ça change.
In the last version of my comments, I discussed the problems Apple has had with the EU and other legislative bodies. I was particularly concerned with the comments from Margrethe Vestager, head of the competition division, concerning Apple's warning that AI features might not be available in European versions of its operating systems. To me, and others, this was an example of Apple playing safe when currently no one really knows how the EU will react. To make the point, Vestager sees this as an "A ha!" moment as (to her) it shows that Apple knows it is anticompetitive. A few days after I put that online, Ben Thompson (Stratechery) wrote a balanced comment on what he refers to as "a bit of a morality tale", in which he suggests Apple and Vestager have made mistakes.
Apple, he writes, was ever the underdog and then it developed the iPhone to become the largest (today) company. However, "If only Apple could have seen how the world - and its place in it! - had changed." In illustration, he tells how a recent trip to Europe was frustrating with the number of ways he was asked to enter his data, just (for example) to visit a gallery or make a restaurant reservation. This is of course a result of the EU obsession with protecting user data - it was being abused by some online sources - but the end result is that most people just end up hitting "Accept". He comments that "[T]he Internet experience in America is better because the market was allowed to work". He adds that "Instead of a regulator mandating sites show pop-ups to provide some sort of false assurance about excess data collection [sic]", most US sites have worked out what they and users really need.
Thompson then analyses the examination of Google and Apple that has followed because the Europeans see monopoly where others find a "better user experience". With the development of the iPhone and the App Store, he understands how this could be a restricting environment for developers and customers, and he does "blame Apple for not self-regulating in this regard". Apple has now been forced to allow side-loading, although the details are not completely to EU liking and fines are likely to be levied. Having run PCs as a callow youth, then moved to Macs, I am aware of the risks that users face with malware. I have been happy with Apple's walled garden which, while it might be restrictive in some areas, generally keeps me safe. With regard to user data, I just do not see Apple in the same category as Google or Meta.
Several developers as well as the EU have questioned the 30% charge that Apple charges for providing the service, but my experience in news distribution in the late 1960s shows that these types of fees are normal for those that provide the infrastructure (warehousing, transport, manpower) for publishers and developers to sell their output. The wholesaler would also take 10% of the cover price from the retailer. People may quibble over the percentage (and I was witness to discussions at one major wholesaler where the usual 25% was whittled down by a percentage point or two), but the concept is sound. Thompson is not at all in favor of Apple's intention to charge a 3% fee for apps distributed outside the Apple Store (as required by the EU's DMA).
His discussion brings in the EU and Meta and as a final example, NVidia and CUDA integration. [The Compute Unified Device Architecture is explained by NVidia; information is also available in several articles and videos online]. Thompson notes that, with NVidia, "European regulators don't seem to care about incentivizing innovation, and are walking down a path that seems likely to lead to de facto continentalization of private property. . . ." He had earlier commented that the EU seems to want Apple to "make its intellectual property available to third party developers on an ongoing basis without charge": nationalizing iOS. Even with socialist leanings I see the errors in that.
After a number of valuable comments, Thompson examines how the attitude of the EU to the intellectual property of (mainly US) companies who operate in Europe, is forcing them to adapt. With the DMA and its "long list of do's and don'ts, there are some unknowns. Who knows which way Vestager will jump? As a result, Apple released a statement: "We are concerned that the interoperability requirements of the DMA could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that risk user privacy and data security." Vestager was outraged and in her comment she said that this was a "stunning open declaration that they know 100% that this is another way of disabling competition". Not so fast.
Several have expressed disagreement (and disquiet) with this. I think it displays her strong bias against Apple and other tech companies. Thompson writes, "This makes absolutely no sense: Apple not deploying AI in fact opens them up to competition, because their phones will be less fully featured than they might be otherwise". Thompson surmises that what Vestager wants is "a weaker Apple more susceptible to competition; expect this to be the case for lots of new features going forward."
In a conclusion that looks to the future (and is in the future tense), Thompson warns that the powers that be, "made such extreme demands on U.S. tech companies that they artificially raised the cost of serving their region beyond the expected payoff." He added, "the region received fewer new features and new companies never bothered to enter" . . . "If only the E.U. could have seen how the world - and its place in it! - had changed." Be careful what you wish for.
There appears to be more fallout from the EU Digital Markets Act as well as potential loss of AI features on Apple devices in Europe. I mentioned last time that Phil Schiller had been due to have a board observer role: to "attend and contribute to board meetings." There is (or was) a nominated observer from Microsoft, but all that has changed. Oliver Haslam (iMore) writes that "Apple and Microsoft are both concerned about potential antitrust issues" and (sourcing the Financial Times), "decided it wasn't worth the potential scrutiny the board seats could bring". Instead, OpenAI will now host regular meetings with Apple and Microsoft along with other interested parties. Tim Hardwick (MacRumors) also has some comments on this change.
As a later note, it is now being reported that Apple has ended the dispute over contactless payments, with "binding commitments" to open up this feature. Natasha Lomas (TechCrunch) writes that "Apple has until July 25 to implement changes that will allow developers of rival mobile wallets to offer contactless payment by the predominant technology used in the EU (NFC)" which will allow other systems access. Users will also be able to set a 3rd party wallet app as the default rather than Apple Wallet which is not available here for payments. Thailand is one of the few countries in the region that does not have Apple Pay which is more a reflection of the banking system here than Apple.
When Apple introduced the iPad Pro in May, it featured a new iPad version of Final Cut Pro and a new app: Final Cut Camera. This was part of a combination that allowed input to Final Cut on the iPad from up to 4 cameras. I downloaded both when they appeared, although have had little time to learn the apps, apart from a couple of quick (and easy) tries of Final Cut. Input from 4 cameras is intriguing and would need some skills, I suspect. D. Griffin Jones (Cult of Mac) has an article that takes a look at how this app works. It has "professional features the Camera app can't match".
Although Apple is not at the top of the sales charts (profitability is another matter), it is still having a degree of success with Macs. Ed Hardy (Cult of Mac) writes that shipments have increased some 20% and that no PC maker is growing faster. Indeed Dell has seen reduced sales. This may, paradoxically, be down to the Covid pandemic as users who bought computers for "work at home" are now replacing them. "Cupertino shipped 5.7 million Macs in the second quarter, according to IDC. That's up from 4.7 million in the same period of 2024".
Last weekend, Luke Dormehl (Cult of Mac) wrote about one of those almost-forgotten Apple anniversaries: the end of the eMac in July 2006. This device was my second new Mac. I bought it after my CRT iMac (that I still have). Before I had had a succession of used Macs as well as a few built from eBay spares that a colleague used to put together. I was also lucky enough to have access to a G4 Power Mac at work, although I had to fight to use that.
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I had ordered two Power Macs (and some iMacs) for teaching purposes through a World Bank Program, but when the Power Macs arrived, the powers that be in my department then decided (Trunchbull-like) that they were "much too good for children" and locked them away with their stylish monitors. This is how things work here sometimes. I had to apply some pressure to the head of department, pointing out that I should at least be allowed to set them up and find out how they worked. He agreed. I had one in my office, but the other was commandeered by another teacher and was never seen again.
With the iMac at home and the Power Mac at work I was able to learn these new machines - both new concepts in computing after the cream boxes we had been used to. Initially the computers ran the System 9 OS, but OS X was also installed and one day I switched to that to have a look. I was initially terrified: brave new world stuff. Although I quickly switched back to System 9, I realized Apple was not going back so tried again and within a couple of days saw the bigger picture. I started writing about the new OS X and that opened several doors. Unfortunately, I was told a while later that the 30 or so iMacs I had ordered for the teaching project had been cancelled. I never found out by whom, or why. Above my pay grade.
After a year or so with the iMac the arrival of the eMac was interesting. It was faster (although those speeds pale when compared with what we have now) and I was able to do a lot of good work with it. Eventually, I moved to a flat screen iMac, and mobile devices including a 12" G4 Power Book, but that was stolen in a burglary. I learned a major lesson about backing up data. Some then I have had a series of several Power Book, Mac Book and MacBook Pro computers as well as some standby Mac mini devices, although most work these days is done on the iPad Pro. But the CRT iMac and the eMac were the first.
Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. After 3 years writing a column in the Life supplement, he is now no longer associated with the Bangkok Post. He can be followed on X (@extensions_th). The RSS feed for the articles is http://www.extensions.in.th/ext_link.xml - copy and paste into your feed reader.
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