Is The EU Overreaching Or Is Apple Playing Politics?

The European Union has been taking on some of the world’s biggest tech giants in its attempt to put user privacy and environmental concerns in focus. Of late, Apple has been at the center of EU’s antitrust actions – from pushing it to do hardware adjustments to the iPhone to forcing it to do what was unthinkable at one point – allow sideloading apps on iPhones.

Back In The Spotlight

The EU versus Apple fight has once again come into the spotlight, and this time, it might seem what some might think to be unfair to Cupertino.

The European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, slammed Apple once again. This time, though, it wasn’t for something that Apple had done – Vestager criticized the Tim Cook-led company for not rolling out its new AI features, Apple Intelligence, in the EU.

She thinks it’s a “stunning, open declaration” that Apple Intelligence is anti-competitive, regardless of Apple’s reasons for holding back on rolling it out in the EU for now.

“They know 100% that this is another way of disabling competition,” said Vestager, referring to the rules of EU’s Digital Markets Act, which she has used to focus on the practices of big tech companies like Apple, among others.

Blame DMA

On its part, Apple has clearly said that the EU’s DMA brings about “regulatory uncertainties” that it has not figured out a solution to, yet. As a result, three features – iPhone Mirroring, SharePlay Screen Sharing enhancements, and Apple Intelligence – will not be rolled out to EU users in 2024.

Apple has not closed the door permanently, though, which means it could roll these features out to the EU eventually. 

Is The EU Going Too Far?

The European Union’s relatively stricter regulations have resulted in some important benefits as far as users are concerned.

Apple was forced to ditch the Lightning port in favor of the USB Type-C port, it has been forced to adopt the Rich Communication Services or the RCS protocol to provide an upgraded messaging experience with non-iPhone users, and soon, it may result in a 10-15% better battery life on iPhones.

Users in the EU can also sideload apps on their iPhones now, a feature that has long been available on Android smartphones.

But as far as AI is concerned, EU regulations seem to be stifling innovation.

Google’s Gemini rollout was delayed because of this, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms has skipped rolling out its AI services in the region, and Apple Intelligence is the third major and most recent instance of a company holding back.

The Risk Of Falling Behind

Perception of the EU falling behind in the AI race comes not just from outsiders, but also from some prominent people within the region, too.

Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands has cautioned that the EU risks falling behind the U.S. and China when it comes to AI due to over-restricting the development of this cutting-edge technology.

“It’s good to have guardrails,” but he thinks that Europe is making it “quite hard” to innovate in AI due to “big restrictions on data.”

Or Is Apple Playing Politics?

While Vestager and the European Commission’s reasoning and actions thereunder have been public, this is the first instance of Apple publicly voicing its opinion about the regulatory quagmire that the DMA has become.

“Due to the regulatory uncertainties brought about by the Digital Markets Act (DMA), we do not believe that we will be able to roll out three of these features… to our EU users this year,” Apple said in its statement.

Apple noted that it is “committed” to “collaborating with the European Commission in an attempt to find a solution,” but noted that it would do so without compromising user safety.

For now, though, those who want to get their hands on Apple’s new AI features will have to wait for Apple and the European Commission to hash it out and clear the hurdles for a rollout. It would also help users if the Commission cleared the air on uncertainties surrounding DMA.

Until then, we wait.

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