IIUC this is a deliberate act of aggression by Apple - which is important to note. Apple already has regional accounts, so the infrastructure for this is in place already, for preexisting reasons. My Apple ID is still within US after months of being in the EU. They have not “kicked me out” yet.<p>There’s no other way than to interpret this, and the preceding actions by Apple, as a temper tantrum of malicious compliance. That begs a whole new set of questions.<p>Optically, this is the behavior you’d expect from companies that stopped innovating and are clinging onto power with the power of lawyers. It seems like an incredibly small hill to sacrifice your reputation on.<p>Are their long term ambitions to live off the 30% cut? Because it sure as hell appears like they’re fighting an existential battle, which doesn’t inspire confidence in their visionary leadership. Perhaps the best thing for <i>Apple</i> is to take away their comfort blanket, so they’re setting sights on innovation again.
Apple really trying to be the asshole here. Imagine installing work apps that disappear after 30 days.. Also what happens if the user chooses not to share their live location with apple?
> <i>Whether or not that will be something the European Commission takes issue with, remains to be seen. After all, an EU citizen is an EU citizen even after they leave the EU.</i><p>I fail to see how this is in any way relevant. Cannabis is legal in Canada, and Canadians remain Canadian citizens abroad. If they're caught with cannabis in a country where it's illegal, they will be prosecuted for breaking the law. Laws don't follow people around like this.
In addition to everything covered above: US company can't imagine someone would take a foreign vacation away from their job for more than 30 days.
If this were a court case on TV, the next words from the EU/"prosecutor" should be, "Permission to treat the witness as hostile?"
How long before EU ask FAANG to "split or don't make business here anymore"?<p>US won't ever do that because of all the lobbying, but EU might, no?
Is it too much to hope that this is a natural experiment that we can learn from? Either Apple is right, and this will lead to worse security, a worse app ecosystem, and damaged business in the EU…or they are wrong, and their business and ecosystem will be unharmed. If the latter occurs, will it encourage them to rethink their approach and allow for a more open ecosystem everywhere?
This sounds very much like Apple being maliciously compliant. Similar to their complaint against Epic Games...
I'd be interested to see what the EU makes of this.
Some more discussion yesterday: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39617531">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39617531</a>
So, does this mean that if citizens who live <i>outside</i> of the EU, say the US, travel to the EU, they will then get access third-party app stores ?
I believe the grace period is entirely voluntary on their part, and since they're digging their heels in on the entire matter, I'm honestly surprised (though not impressed) by their generosity.<p>> Apple had previously said that it would give EU citizens a period of graze<p>Three paragraph article. Couldn't proof read it. Fair enough.
Apple: “While you are in the EU, you get reduced protections and greater risks due to DMA. Once you are out of the EU, you get the best protections that the Apple App Store offers. No malware. No scamware. No adware. No silly apps with enormously unbelievable weekly subscriptions. No apps that are an exact copy of another. You benefit from our investments and efforts in our legendary and famous app review process. Don’t ask us. Just ask our developers about how great our App Store is.” /s<p>Seriously though, can Apple claim or pretend that it’s protecting EU residents and that once someone is out, they’re not residents anymore? The 30-day period for something as critical as apps in today’s world is too short though.