Apple is not at all happy with the European Union and its regulatory zeal that has forced it to open its "private garden", but the latest move it has made is quite disconcerting and wrong to punish its users in Europe, which have nothing to do with those who make the laws.
One of the biggest disappointment of the last WWDC 2024 was the announcement that Apple Intelligence, Apple's new Artificial Intelligence (AI) for iOS 18, would not arrive outside the United States until 2025. The great novelty of iOS 18 that promises that Siri will be a virtual assistant with real usefulness and that will facilitate everyday tasks such as reading or writing emails, or less relevant things such as creating our own emojis will only be in Beta for the United States and only in English this summer (no definitive date), and is not expected to reach other languages and regions until next year. All we could see in Apple's presentation about its AI was, therefore, smoke, something that other companies have accustomed us to but that at Apple has been quite unexpected to happen.
But today there was something completely unexpected: an Apple announcement in which it is assured that the delay in Apple Intelligence is due to the DMA, the "Digital Markets Law" that Europe has imposed on Apple and that has caused, among other things, , which has had to allow third-party application stores, payment methods other than Apple and a long etcetera of modifications that seek free competition in favor of users, at least that is what our politicians tell us. This detail was not mentioned in the last Apple presentation, and it is something important enough that it was not said if it really is the cause of this decision.
In recent days, the European Commission and more specifically Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, have made it clear that European regulatory bodies are not at all satisfied with the measures that Apple has taken to comply with the DMA, they consider them insufficient and in some cases even contrary to what is sought with this law. Is it a coincidence that after these words the company has issued this statement blaming precisely the DMA? It does not seem. Let's add to all this the fact that not only is Apple's AI delayed, Other functions that have nothing to do with Apple Intelligence are also delayed, such as iPhone mirroring or SharePlay Screen Sharing. The first allows you to view and control your iPhone screen from your computer screen. The second allows you to control another user's screen to teach them how to do something. What is Apple's excuse for this decision? They assure that the DMA causes the security of their products to decrease and that therefore they will not launch it until they see that their users in Europe are not at risk.
Apple's strategy seems clear: take European users hostage so that regulatory bodies think twice before making decisions against them. I'm not going to be the one to defend the regulatory desire of the European Union, but Apple may be shooting itself in the foot with this decision, and I hope that is the case and it is forced to rectify. If you delay the most important features of your next update in a market with more than 450 million potential users, what is going to motivate them to consider changing their phone this year? Even worse, In addition to losing sales of your devices, you are going to piss off many users. who are already disappointed because you've put them at the back of the queue for using Apple Intelligence. Patience has a limit.