Apple Rivals Unite to Promote Open Ecosystems Using EU Law

[MacRumors]

Google, Meta, Qualcomm, Nothing, Lenovo, Opera and several other tech companies have announced a collaborative effort to push for "open digital ecosystems" in what appears to be a pointed move against Apple (via Reuters).

The group, calling itself the Coalition for Open Digital Ecosystems (CODE), seeks to encourage more open platforms and systems in Europe. Other members include Motorola, Chinese smartphone brand Honor, French augmented reality start-up Lynx, and German messaging service provider Wire. Apple is noticeably absent from the organization's members.

CODE's formation comes in response to new EU rules such as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which designates major tech companies as "gatekeepers" and compels them to open up their various services and platforms to other companies and developers. The DMA is expected to force Apple to make significant changes to the way the App Store, FaceTime, and Siri work in Europe. For example, Apple will next year be obliged to allow users to install third-party app stores and sideload apps, as well as give developers the ability to promote their offers outside the ‌‌‌App Store‌‌‌ and use third-party payment systems.

CODE plans to work with companies, legislators, and academics to promote digital openness and present pathways for this to be achieved in Europe using the DMA and future EU legislation. Members have discussed how digital ecosystems should work in Europe and what positively impacts competitiveness and openness. The organisation aims to open up major digital ecosystems using cross-industry collaboration to promote seamless connectivity and interoperability between systems.

While the likes of Google and Meta have been officially designated as gatekeepers by the EU just like Apple, rivals are increasingly attempting to use EU law to prompt major changes to Apple's ecosystem. For example, last month, Google and European telecom groups urged EU regulators to designate iMessage a "core" service that would force Apple to make the communications platform interoperable with competing chat services.

Article Link: Apple Rivals Unite to Promote Open Ecosystems Using EU Law

 

[Muzzakus]

I just want to see the world burn

 

[icanhazmac]

If you can't beat 'em, regulate 'em!

 

[Mikey44]

Yes, let’s wield government regulation to force companies to bend to our will, that’ll show those pesky innovators.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Yeah, Google and Meta, everyone's best "friends" lol

"This whole open thing has nothing to do with ads, we promise. Don't be Evil. Cambridge Analytica. Bla-bla-bla."

Apple should have made iMessage with built-in FaceTime feature and cross-platform payments a holistic Android app years ago. They would be the messaging and payments defacto platform outside of China right now, obliterating Square, PayPal, WhatsApp, Revolut and everyone in between, while having to lock nothing down at the same time.

 

[SpotOnT]

Apple needs to form a coalition to push for increased user privacy. No way Google or Meta would be pushing for this if they couldn’t profit from harvesting personal information.

 

[Abazigal]

I imagine this is how Ip Man felt when he was facing 10 opponents simultaneously.

It truly is impressive how so many companies (some of which are tech giants in their own rights) feel threatened by a company which has minority share in each product category. That said, while greater regulation is one of the risks that Apple faces, it won't play a major role in Apple's future.

If anyone has time, I would recommend reading an article written by Neil Cybart a few years ago, detailing why he believes so many competitors are turning to guerrilla warfare tactics to wage war against Apple and its App Store.

Above Avalon: Attacking the App Store

Apple competitors have turned to guerrilla warfare tactics to wage a battle against Apple and the App Store. Based on what is being written and said about the App Store, one would think we have an entered a tech dystopia in which 27 million iOS developers and a billion Apple users are being taken ad

www.aboveavalon.com

What it all just shows is how Apple has been successful in pulling away from the competition, and this is perhaps their best (and last) chance to reshape the mobile industry to their liking.

If it's a fight they want, then I hope it's a fight Apple gives them.

 

[MacProFCP]

What is obvious here is that the top tech firms in the world are all US based. Yet, of course, they go to the Marxist EU to try and reign in Apple because the capitalist system that made them successful in the first place isn’t giving them the competitive advantage on a silver platter.

The customer should be the ultimate decider, not some overpaid government bureaucrat.

 

[I7guy]

Yeah, Google and Meta, everyone's best "friends" lol

There’s a saying: “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.

"This whole open thing has nothing to do with ads, we promise. Don't be Evil. Cambridge Analytica. Bla-bla-bla."

Apple should have made iMessage with built-in FaceTime feature and cross-platform payments a holistic Android app years ago. They would be the messaging and payments defacto platform outside of China right now, obliterating Square, PayPal, WhatsApp, Revolut and everyone in between, while having to lock nothing down at the same time.

 

[cthompson94]

Funny how majority of the companies trying to push this makes insane money off selling data or doesn't do their due diligence in security *cough* Nothing *cough*

 

[iBluetooth]

Google, Meta, Qualcomm go to lengths forcing others to open up. Let's put the focus and pressure on some one else, while we enforce our stronghold. I am waiting for WhatsApp to open for other developers

 

[ELman]

Is it just me or does the EU have nothing better to do than go after American companies for money and regulation? Maybe it’s time to leave the EU.

 

[Born Again]

Remember when everyone loved the EU for pushing Apple into adopting usb C?? Pepperidge Farms remembers.

🍿

 

[wbeasley]

Yes let them all start by making their programs open and interacting to show us how it will work... Let Google track all interactions with Facebook, make Microsoft implement all Adobe file formats, make Microsoft release Access for Macs and iOS... let's see how they like sharing before they rope others into it.

 

[scorpio vega]

Gross, i don't want my iPhone to be anything like an Android.

I just started itching thinking about it.

 

[wbeasley]

Is it just me or does the EU have nothing better to do than go after American companies for money and regulation? Maybe it’s time to leave the EU.

it's easier for them to tackle US targets than worry about what Russia might do to them...

 

[Sorinut]

Is it just me or does the EU have nothing better to do than go after American companies for money and regulation? Maybe it’s time to leave the EU.

Apple's sales are near US $100 billion/year in the EU. They aren't going to leave..

 

[GalileoSeven]

This is rich, considering Google just got slapped down in their lawsuit against Epic (for claiming to be 'open', yet working behind to scenes to subvert that)

 

[scorpio vega]

I almost wish apple would release Apple Pay, Siri, Safari, iMessage, Facetime, and a completely fully featured Apple music and Apple tv app to Android.

Not because Android users deserve it. Only to make all these other companies mad when Android users use Apple services instead. Android users claim that Apple is locking us in. Might as well lock in the android fanboys too.

 

[scorpio vega]

This is rich, considering Google just got slapped down in their lawsuit against Epic (for claiming to be 'open', yet working behind to scenes to subvert that)

This is very much par for course for Google.

 

[displayblock]

Apple needs to form a coalition to push for increased user privacy. No way Google or Meta would be pushing for this if they couldn’t profit from harvesting personal information.

Apple also profits from “personalized” ads.

 

[I7guy]

Remember when everyone loved the EU for pushing Apple into adopting usb C?? Pepperidge Farms remembers.

🍿

Yes there likely will some changes in some locations.

 

[Ctrlos]

Yes, let’s wield government regulation to force companies to bend to our will, that’ll show those pesky innovators.

Don't capitulate to the propaganda of capitalistic monoliths.

Pretty much every major underlying piece of tech in your phone, from 5G to Bluetooth to ARM came out of heavily-regulated Europe.

We had continent-wide contactless payments from hundreds of banks when the USA was still signing cheques and your carrier worked across borders without issue or roaming. We built the greatest terrestrial human engineering project of the 20th Century with government help and, until the fleet got grounded had supersonic passenger planes that never took off in the USA because the FAA banned them in case they disturbed people on the ground.

Heck, the universal 20th Century technologies of SCART and GSM were only possible because of government regulation and not in spite of it.

On topic though, all those companies have one thing in common: they all use Android as their back-end which makes having an open market a lot easier.

 

[sparkinstx]

Yes, let's open things up to hackers, and government surveillance.

 

[msackey]

I totally smell a rat or rats. These companies banding together are not really for Open Source for the reason of championing human rights and individual rights and freedoms. It's about how they can carve out even more for themselves to profit. They are making use of a political environment and political power to arm wrestle more profit.