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I don't understand the complaint. The article says: > More specifically, the CPC takes issue with the fact that Apple restricts user accounts – or Apple IDs –

I don't understand the complaint. The article says: > More specifically, the CPC takes issue with the fact that Apple restricts user accounts – or Apple IDs – to being able to access storefronts, pay for products or download apps only from the country where an account is registered – a practice "which is not allowed under EU's anti-geo-blocking rules." The EC noted that this creates problems when EU citizens travel to different countries in the bloc, and noted that Apple customers "face significant challenges" when attempting to change their country of registration. Is this about app availability? I doubt it, aren't most developers going to make their app available Europe-wide? Why would you care that you can't get the Italian app "storefront" because you're French? And if a developer makes something Italy-only, isn't that their choice? Or is this about media purchases? Which doesn't have anything to do with Apple, but rather with content licenses. Because this article doesn't provide even a single concrete example of what it's talking about, so it's hard to figure out what the complaint even is.

xg15 2y ago
> Why would you care that you can't get the Italian app "storefront" because you're French? Because you might be traveling in Italy and try to use some locally-developed Italian app while you're there, e.g. some municipal public transport app. Or you might even move permanently to Italy while staying a French citizen (and having your Apple ID still registered as French). > And if a developer makes something Italy-only, isn't that their choice? I think the entire point is that, in the EU, it's not.
- crazygringo 2y ago
  But surely a transport app will make itself available to the whole EU because it wants to be available to tourists. So why does there even need to be a law around this at all? Presumably apps want to be popular and aren't going to limit themselves to 1 country in the EU. So what is the problem the EU is even trying to solve here? I'm genuinely asking, because not a single example is given. I don't want something theoretical, I'm asking where is a case of someone experiencing actual harm. Because it's very hard to understand this otherwise. Is this actually about apps? Or is it about licensed content like music? Is it anything Apple even has power to change here?

xg15 2y ago

> Why would you care that you can't get the Italian app "storefront" because you're French? Because you might be traveling in Italy and try to use some locally-developed Italian app while you're there, e.g. some municipal public transport app. Or you might even move permanently to Italy while staying a French citizen (and having your Apple ID still registered as French). > And if a developer makes something Italy-only, isn't that their choice? I think the entire point is that, in the EU, it's not.

crazygringo 2y ago
But surely a transport app will make itself available to the whole EU because it wants to be available to tourists. So why does there even need to be a law around this at all? Presumably apps want to be popular and aren't going to limit themselves to 1 country in the EU. So what is the problem the EU is even trying to solve here? I'm genuinely asking, because not a single example is given. I don't want something theoretical, I'm asking where is a case of someone experiencing actual harm. Because it's very hard to understand this otherwise. Is this actually about apps? Or is it about licensed content like music? Is it anything Apple even has power to change here?