4 ms·

The EU has to flinch. Sure the entire HN demographic may not give a shit, but they literally don’t matter. The masses of constituents will be pissed.

ycombigators 1y ago
[dead]
stavros 1y ago
Depends on whether we'll be more pissed about not having an iPhone or about having to give 30% of all purchases to Apple. It'll also take a lot for Apple to be able to spin this as "the EU is banning us from selling iPhones" when it's their decision.
- drexlspivey 1y ago
  Let me break it to you, Play store also has a 30% tax. So does Steam, Playstation store, Xbox store, Meta quest store, Nintendo, Samsung etc. Why do people only complain about Apple and everybody else gets a pass?
  - stavros 1y ago
    Because I have the option of using an alternate app store on my Android phone or computer, and I do. Meta, PlayStation, Nintendo, all companies that force me to pay them a cut to install something on my device need to go the way of Apple. I'm not sure why you thought your point was such a checkmate, as if I have a problem with the company itself, rather than the practice.
    - drexlspivey 1y ago
      The practice as well as the percentage is industry standard by now but i have never heard of anyone complaining about the Meta tax or the Sony tax. It’s always the Apple tax which is a bit weird.
      - stavros 1y ago
        That's probably just because Apple sells more than the other two combined. I find the practice reprehensible no matter whether it's Apple or Amazon doing it.
      - bigyabai 1y ago
        Did you know that the Meta Quest has sideloading, too? https://sidequestvr.com/ https://sidequestvr.com/ One of the only reasons I use the damn device.
    - deadbabe 1y ago
      So if the alternate App Store doesn’t take a 30% cut, but also the products charge more than the Apple App Store, you’d still rather use them?
      - bigyabai 1y ago
        That's how it works on macOS, so... sure.
  - deadbabe 1y ago
    You’re arguing with people who think Apple charging a business $100 a year to publish Apps on their AppStore is the epitome of corporate greed.
    - thrance 1y ago
      You are hard straw-manning the other side. Please stop.
      - deadbabe 1y ago
        No I’m not, there’s endless people who crow at the idea of paying a small yearly fee to publish their apps. Search Hackernews.
  - troupo 1y ago
    > Why do people only complain about Apple and everybody else gets a pass Because mobile phones are not gaming consoles, and are an essential device for everyday life? Because Steam doesn't prevent you from installing and using games from any other store and doesn't claim it is entitled to a cut?
- _1tem 1y ago
  Apple doesn’t need to spin anything. EU consumers will be pissed about having to travel to another country to buy an iPhone. And Apple will make the revenue anyway.
  - stavros 1y ago
    Yeah, but the question is whether they'll be pissed at Apple.
    - general1465 1y ago
      People were pissed on Microsoft due to BSODs on Windows. Microsoft bent over backwards to test drivers to prevent BSODs and give Windows better name, despite the fact that it was not a problem of Microsoft, but sloppy programmers of those drivers causing BSODs. Yeah I can almost guarantee that people are going to be mad at Apple.
      - stavros 1y ago
        Yep, hence the question whether they'll be able to spin it to direct this outrage toward the EU.
        troupo 1y ago
        That's why they have been complaining about the EU and DMA for several years now. They are trying to build public support for their case. This time they are having a bit of a hard time as a lot of people are clearly sick of their shenaningans. However, we are in a bubble of our own, and it's hard to say what the general public will think of it.
        noirscape 1y ago
        The issue for Apple is that in the EU, they're still mainly characterized as the company that dragged their feet on using standardized chargers, leading to there being a law on the books that mandates USB-C. (As in, it's obvious to literally everyone that if Apple just used USB-C, that law wouldn't exist, since literally everyone else was willing to use microUSB and then USB-C for their regular charging devices; without Apple, there'd be no incentive to do it, but because they're a major player that refused to co-operate, it's now required.) That law axed a lot of the second-hand grey market for cheap Apple cables of poor build quality (something Apple also worked towards because their official cables have had poor build quality since forever), and is generally seen as a positive for most people, since everyone who's ever had an Apple device is also familiar with the growing collection of cheap chargers that are varying degrees of functional that comes with it; instead a USB-C charger can often be repurposed to charge e-readers, tablets, lights and so on, while Apple chargers could only be used to charge Apple devices. It also eliminated all the problems with audio docks, where before you had to pick between buying one for Apple and one for Android/everything else. Basically it's made less e-waste people directly have to engage with, and is generally seen as a good thing... but Apple kept whining about it, so their reputation as a customer-friendly company is in the gutter as a result; even most Apple users I know of still don't even bother trying to defend the company on how bad they are at interoperability/standardization.
FranzFerdiNaN 1y ago
They wont. Do you really think people are going to storm Brussels because they have to buy a Samsung or Motorola phone instead of an Iphone?

ycombigators 1y ago

[dead]

stavros 1y ago

Depends on whether we'll be more pissed about not having an iPhone or about having to give 30% of all purchases to Apple. It'll also take a lot for Apple to be able to spin this as "the EU is banning us from selling iPhones" when it's their decision.

drexlspivey 1y ago
Let me break it to you, Play store also has a 30% tax. So does Steam, Playstation store, Xbox store, Meta quest store, Nintendo, Samsung etc. Why do people only complain about Apple and everybody else gets a pass?
- stavros 1y ago
  Because I have the option of using an alternate app store on my Android phone or computer, and I do. Meta, PlayStation, Nintendo, all companies that force me to pay them a cut to install something on my device need to go the way of Apple. I'm not sure why you thought your point was such a checkmate, as if I have a problem with the company itself, rather than the practice.
  - drexlspivey 1y ago
    The practice as well as the percentage is industry standard by now but i have never heard of anyone complaining about the Meta tax or the Sony tax. It’s always the Apple tax which is a bit weird.
    - stavros 1y ago
      That's probably just because Apple sells more than the other two combined. I find the practice reprehensible no matter whether it's Apple or Amazon doing it.
    - bigyabai 1y ago
      Did you know that the Meta Quest has sideloading, too? https://sidequestvr.com/ https://sidequestvr.com/ One of the only reasons I use the damn device.
  - deadbabe 1y ago
    So if the alternate App Store doesn’t take a 30% cut, but also the products charge more than the Apple App Store, you’d still rather use them?
    - bigyabai 1y ago
      That's how it works on macOS, so... sure.
- deadbabe 1y ago
  You’re arguing with people who think Apple charging a business $100 a year to publish Apps on their AppStore is the epitome of corporate greed.
  - thrance 1y ago
    You are hard straw-manning the other side. Please stop.
    - deadbabe 1y ago
      No I’m not, there’s endless people who crow at the idea of paying a small yearly fee to publish their apps. Search Hackernews.
- troupo 1y ago
  > Why do people only complain about Apple and everybody else gets a pass Because mobile phones are not gaming consoles, and are an essential device for everyday life? Because Steam doesn't prevent you from installing and using games from any other store and doesn't claim it is entitled to a cut?
_1tem 1y ago
Apple doesn’t need to spin anything. EU consumers will be pissed about having to travel to another country to buy an iPhone. And Apple will make the revenue anyway.
- stavros 1y ago
  Yeah, but the question is whether they'll be pissed at Apple.
  - general1465 1y ago
    People were pissed on Microsoft due to BSODs on Windows. Microsoft bent over backwards to test drivers to prevent BSODs and give Windows better name, despite the fact that it was not a problem of Microsoft, but sloppy programmers of those drivers causing BSODs. Yeah I can almost guarantee that people are going to be mad at Apple.
    - stavros 1y ago
      Yep, hence the question whether they'll be able to spin it to direct this outrage toward the EU.
      - troupo 1y ago
        That's why they have been complaining about the EU and DMA for several years now. They are trying to build public support for their case. This time they are having a bit of a hard time as a lot of people are clearly sick of their shenaningans. However, we are in a bubble of our own, and it's hard to say what the general public will think of it.
      - noirscape 1y ago
        The issue for Apple is that in the EU, they're still mainly characterized as the company that dragged their feet on using standardized chargers, leading to there being a law on the books that mandates USB-C. (As in, it's obvious to literally everyone that if Apple just used USB-C, that law wouldn't exist, since literally everyone else was willing to use microUSB and then USB-C for their regular charging devices; without Apple, there'd be no incentive to do it, but because they're a major player that refused to co-operate, it's now required.) That law axed a lot of the second-hand grey market for cheap Apple cables of poor build quality (something Apple also worked towards because their official cables have had poor build quality since forever), and is generally seen as a positive for most people, since everyone who's ever had an Apple device is also familiar with the growing collection of cheap chargers that are varying degrees of functional that comes with it; instead a USB-C charger can often be repurposed to charge e-readers, tablets, lights and so on, while Apple chargers could only be used to charge Apple devices. It also eliminated all the problems with audio docks, where before you had to pick between buying one for Apple and one for Android/everything else. Basically it's made less e-waste people directly have to engage with, and is generally seen as a good thing... but Apple kept whining about it, so their reputation as a customer-friendly company is in the gutter as a result; even most Apple users I know of still don't even bother trying to defend the company on how bad they are at interoperability/standardization.

FranzFerdiNaN 1y ago

They wont. Do you really think people are going to storm Brussels because they have to buy a Samsung or Motorola phone instead of an Iphone?