Apple today said that European customers will not get access to the Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring, and SharePlay Screen Sharing features that are coming to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac this September due to regulatory issues related to the Digital Markets Act.
In a statement to Financial Times, Apple said that there will be a delay as it works to figure out how to make the new functionality compatible with the European Union's competition rules.
In a statement to Bloomberg, the European Commission said Apple would be welcome in the EU provided it followed the laws there.
Under repeated threats of fines up to $40–80 billion dollars (10–20 percent of worldwide revenue), it would be recklessly irresponsible for Apple, or any other designated “gatekeeper”, to launch any new services or integrated features in the EU without absolutely certainty that those features are compliant with the DMA. And the nature of the European Commission is that they do not issue such assurances in advance. This is not spite. Spite would be saying these features will never come to the EU while the DMA remains in place. But a delayed rollout is the only rational response to the DMA: extreme caution in the face of the law’s by-design uncertainty and severe penalties.
It seems like even the possibility of lawbreaking has made Apple cautious — and I am not sure why that is seen as an inherently bad thing. This is one of the world’s most powerful corporations, and the products and services it rolls out impact a billion-something people. That position deserves significant legal scrutiny.
The EU’s self-induced slide into a technological backwater continues.
Apple has confirmed that iOS 18 beta 2 will be available next Monday. That’s exactly two weeks after iOS 18 was announced at WWDC 2024. Notably, Apple has confirmed that there are two new features that will be available in iOS 18 beta 2: iPhone Mirroring and SharePlay screen sharing.
However, what makes it profound is the intentionality of the design, and the way in which these features are being realised. The marketing is straightforward and easy for people to understand, and the features are integrated naturally into the operating system surfaces that people already use.
The best argument against Apple’s use of public web pages for model training is that they trained first, but only after announcing Apple Intelligence last week issued the instructions for blocking Applebot for AI training purposes. Apple should clarify whether they plan to re-index the public data they used for training before Apple Intelligence ships in beta this summer. Clearly, a website that bans Applebot-Extended shouldn’t have its data in Apple’s training corpus simply because Applebot crawled it before Apple Intelligence was even announced.
Apple has fixed a Vision Pro bug which would have allowed a website to fill your room with an unlimited number of virtual 3D objects. Those objects – flying bats in the proof of concept – would then persist even after you quit Safari.
With seven highly customizable buttons, smooth intuitive vertical and horizontal scroll wheels, Mac-friendly app, and a great grip for right-handed people, the Logitech MX Master 3S for Mac is one of our most favored Mac mice and a true competitor to Apple’s more basic Magic Mouse.
I love what Roots offers users: the data to see how device use could be more fruitfully repurposed, and the tools to actually help you follow your technology use goals.
Apple’s first retail location in Malaysia opened today in the heart of Kuala Lumpur’s new Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) central business district.
Maybe one day, it won’t feel weird to talk to a chatbot out loud while walking down the street. For most people, that day isn’t today. And until such a time comes, I’ll happily type to Siri instead.
"If your app is rejected, we have a Review Board that you can appeal to. If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps."
You folks need to stop arguing in the press. Go get a room and argue in private. This is getting embarrassing.
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Thanks for reading.