I think you have the right take, because right now exactly zero people are smuggling iPhones out of the EU to use 3rd party app stores. These non-existent smugg

I think you have the right take, because right now exactly zero people are smuggling iPhones out of the EU to use 3rd party app stores. These non-existent smugglings are costing Apple $0 So this is just a PR fiasco and a way for Apple to look like a comic book villain that spites both customers and governments, at no gain to itself. If this thing Apple execs apparently fear more than the Devil himself were to actually happen then OK do the calculus and ban what you think you need to ban. But doing it now is just silly. Apple used to be a company that was famously good at managing its image, no more it seems. A slow decline into incompetency accompanied by a relentless focus on profit maximization is a classic sign that a company has obtained illegal monopoly rents in one form or another and needs to be brought to justice