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Does it count if no one ever complied to this legislation? Where are the micro-usb iPhones?

by rglullis 5y ago

lrem 5y ago
Apple complied by adding a free dongle to every iPhone sold in the EU.
- rglullis 5y ago
  That's the opposite of compliance. Not only they didn't get to change their own product to match some standard, they went straight against the spirit of the law (add more electronics and yet-another source of waste).
  - shawnz 5y ago
    It was still considered a success because it at least reduced the need for proprietary AC adapters. Now it seems they want to expand on that to fix the proprietary cable/dongle issue too.
    - jaywalk 5y ago
      You never needed a proprietary AC adapter to charge an iPhone, just a "proprietary" cable.
      - shawnz 5y ago
        Without the dongle you couldn't use iPhones with micro-USB AC adapters that don't have detachable cables. However I agree that besides that specific circumstance, they were basically already compliant. The 2009 initiative wasn't targeting Apple specifically.
toyg 5y ago
Apple "complied" by putting USB-A on their chargers and calling it a day. EU authorities grumbled but didn't opt for a lenghty legal challenge; instead, they talked a bit more and came up with this updated legislation. Note how they give Apple something (the unbundled charger) while becoming more restrictive in other areas... if Apple continue taking the piss after this gets passed, I expect the hammer will come down.
- rglullis 5y ago
  > I expect the hammer will come down. So, what are they going to do? Fine Apple for a couple of million euros? Give another reason for Apple to increase the prices of their products even more?
  - TazeTSchnitzel 5y ago
    They would block all shipments of Apple devices at the border of the EU after a certain point. The EU controls the customs rules for most of Europe.
    - rglullis 5y ago
      So, it's the latter. They will have another excuse to increase the prices further. "We had to spend $BILLIONS to change the design of the iPhone, so this is why the new iPhone EU Edition is going to be 1400€". This is the kind of thing that really makes me understand Brexit.
      - toyg 5y ago
        Nobody forces you to buy a consumer-unfriendly product that also happens to be arbitrarily expensive. If somebody in Milan can't afford a Ferrari made in Maranello because the damn company insists in pricing their cars beyond what is reasonable for a 4-wheeled vehicle, it doesn't mean Milan should secede from Italy, surely.
        dmitriid 5y ago
        > Nobody forces you to buy a consumer-unfriendly product that also happens to be arbitrarily expensive. If anything, Apple's Lightning port (and the 30-pin connector before that) are significantly more consumer-friendly than USB. Where consumers are consumers of Apple products, but still. In the span of time when Apple only had two connectors, USB went through 3 or 4. USB didn't even have a charging standard until 2012 (the year Lightning was introduced). And even with USB-C it's still a hodge-podge of standards with multiple optional and non-optional parts, and it's not getting better: https://old.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/mjz2pu/usb4_architectural_explainer_usb4s_and/ https://old.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/mjz2pu/usb4_a...

Does it count if no one ever complied to this legislation? Where are the micro-usb iPhones?

lrem 5y ago

Apple complied by adding a free dongle to every iPhone sold in the EU.

rglullis 5y ago
That's the opposite of compliance. Not only they didn't get to change their own product to match some standard, they went straight against the spirit of the law (add more electronics and yet-another source of waste).
- shawnz 5y ago
  It was still considered a success because it at least reduced the need for proprietary AC adapters. Now it seems they want to expand on that to fix the proprietary cable/dongle issue too.
  - jaywalk 5y ago
    You never needed a proprietary AC adapter to charge an iPhone, just a "proprietary" cable.
    - shawnz 5y ago
      Without the dongle you couldn't use iPhones with micro-USB AC adapters that don't have detachable cables. However I agree that besides that specific circumstance, they were basically already compliant. The 2009 initiative wasn't targeting Apple specifically.

toyg 5y ago

Apple "complied" by putting USB-A on their chargers and calling it a day. EU authorities grumbled but didn't opt for a lenghty legal challenge; instead, they talked a bit more and came up with this updated legislation. Note how they give Apple something (the unbundled charger) while becoming more restrictive in other areas... if Apple continue taking the piss after this gets passed, I expect the hammer will come down.

rglullis 5y ago
> I expect the hammer will come down. So, what are they going to do? Fine Apple for a couple of million euros? Give another reason for Apple to increase the prices of their products even more?
- TazeTSchnitzel 5y ago
  They would block all shipments of Apple devices at the border of the EU after a certain point. The EU controls the customs rules for most of Europe.
  - rglullis 5y ago
    So, it's the latter. They will have another excuse to increase the prices further. "We had to spend $BILLIONS to change the design of the iPhone, so this is why the new iPhone EU Edition is going to be 1400€". This is the kind of thing that really makes me understand Brexit.
    - toyg 5y ago
      Nobody forces you to buy a consumer-unfriendly product that also happens to be arbitrarily expensive. If somebody in Milan can't afford a Ferrari made in Maranello because the damn company insists in pricing their cars beyond what is reasonable for a 4-wheeled vehicle, it doesn't mean Milan should secede from Italy, surely.
      - dmitriid 5y ago
        > Nobody forces you to buy a consumer-unfriendly product that also happens to be arbitrarily expensive. If anything, Apple's Lightning port (and the 30-pin connector before that) are significantly more consumer-friendly than USB. Where consumers are consumers of Apple products, but still. In the span of time when Apple only had two connectors, USB went through 3 or 4. USB didn't even have a charging standard until 2012 (the year Lightning was introduced). And even with USB-C it's still a hodge-podge of standards with multiple optional and non-optional parts, and it's not getting better: https://old.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/mjz2pu/usb4_architectural_explainer_usb4s_and/ https://old.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/mjz2pu/usb4_a...