2d ago

The EU wants Apple to open AirDrop and AirPlay to Android and other platforms

9to5google.com The EU wants Apple to open AirDrop and AirPlay to Android and other platforms

A new mandate from the EU may force Apple to open AirDrop and AirPlay, among other features, to Android and other platforms.

EU regulation has led to Apple being forced to open up iOS in ways that many never expected, but it’s not done just yet. In an effort to ensure “effective interoperability” with other platforms, the EU wants Apple to make native features of iOS being compatible with Android, including the likes of AirDrop and more.

Europe @feddit.org

The EU wants Apple to open AirDrop and AirPlay to Android and other platforms

9to5google.com /2024/12/20/eu-apple-airdrop-airplay-android-more/

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I thought competition was about HAVING features that differentiate you from the others; Not forcing everyone to give their good ideas to everyone else?
- File sharing using bluetooth and wifi are not Apple's ideas.
  
  you are correct, they are not, however, Apple‘s optimization and the mechanisms underpinning how those actually function is significantly different and superior to the regular file sharing that you’re describing. I am not making this information up. You can verify this yourself. I can provide some citations if you wish. And yes, I was foolish to post my comment in an android community.
  
  You can't share videos via Bluetooth from iOS to Android because Apple things. There's currently no way to send a video form an iPhone to Pixel directly. And using online sharing platforms always compresses videos.
  I don't see how anyone can defend this in any way
- If the fuel for your car were specifically tied to the manufacturer, would that increase or decrease competition?
  
  https://sh.itjust.works/comment/15690222
  
  That's avoiding the question. It also ignores the fact that there are already multiple competing implementations that are also better than standard Bluetooth file sharing, but that Apple's walled Garden prevents several of them from being usable on Apple's devices, so if you're taking that approach then you're trading off one method of Apple being anticompetitive for another.
  
  I agree that Apple should allow standard Bluetooth or wifi-based file sharing and streaming available to all, on its devices. What I disagree with, is the idea that Apple should make t he proprietary optimizations that it created for Airplay and air sharing freely available.
  
  And if Apple is preventing other competing proprietary systems from working on their platform, do you agree that they should allow those systems to work on their platform?
  Apple's versions aren't really any better than competing systems (some of which are open) in my experience. They're just better than the other systems they allow to operate on their devices, which is a way of using their large market share to prevent competition. Apple have used "but muh security!" as a response to letting competing services onto iOS, so the EU are giving them the other option - open up your own standard so others can use it.
  
  You make good points, and Apple's "security" argument is of course bullshit
- Competition is when Monopoly
- When something is subject to the network effect, competition requires interoperability. This applies almost universally to technical standards.
  
  It sounds like you are providing a reasoned explanation of ideas, rather than just downvoting me. That can't be right, can it?

43 comments