gatorguy

yyzguy said:

omasou said:

So all of the moaning this past year about how Apple doesn't support RCS but NO mention that it requires carrier support too.

Well, if the carrier doesn’t support it, their Android users won’t be able to use RCS either.     

netrox said:

I am guessing it's because it requires that text messages be stored on their data servers waiting for recipients to read and that requires a lot of resources which smaller carriers cannot afford? 

phillyfanatic09 said:

gatorguy said:

phillyfanatic09 said:

Again, the EU is saying Apple needs to allow competitors free access to its technology and platform. At fines of a billion dollars a day, Apple would be better off abandoning the EU market. At tough pill but the EU seems determined to have a PC style market for smart phones where all manufacturers pretty much offer the same devices and services and there’s little innovation or profit.

Why? There's little chance of Apple losing customers for its AppStore. What percentage of app buyers will even consider third-party stores? Based on Google Play, which has had to deal with "not-Google" app stores for years, not many. Maybe in the low single digits. So throw away 97% of the revenues because that can't have that other 3%, too. Something about cutting off your nose comes to mind. 

It will come down to the actual fines that are imposed and survive appeals. But no company will do business in an environment where it can’t make money and where accepting the terms imposed by regulators threatens its core business practices. By making the fines extreme, the EU has created this situation.

We are already seeing Apple delaying implementation of Apple Intelligence in the EU over the DMA; as AI becomes increasingly integrated into Apple’s ecosystem, with older devices aging out, this will be another issue that will need to be resolved.

tmay said:

It surely makes it easier to "friend shore" assembly operations out of China, and the sooner, the better. Now if the bulk of the rest of Apple's supply chain in China is shifted to other "friendly" Asian countries, Apple might survive were China to actually attempt an invasion of Taiwan.

This is a negative for China, in that as the story states, a reduction in labor will have a negative impact on the economy of China, with a further reduction in consumer consumption.

foregoneconclusion said:

gatorguy said: What revenue? If Apple complies then there are no fines. Both Google and Microsoft have already dealt with this. For Apple, it's all new. 

The $1.8 billion fine per supposed "abusive" rules for music streaming in the App Store. If you actually look at the history of music streaming on iOS, the level of the fine is totally ridiculous. Spotify, the main complainant, only offered IAP for a total of two years on the App Store and only one of those years involved Apple Music as a competitor. The reality is that Spotify's preferred approach to the App Store was available to them right from the start: have the free ad-supported version available to download from the App Store and have the premium subscription version only available for sign-up online. Apple didn't receive any commission from that approach and Spotify was able to successfully grow their business using it. 

Look at these stats for the United States alone...Spotify's business started a dramatic upward curve in 2016. Abuse? It has no basis in reality. 
https://www.statista.com/statistics/293749/spotify-pandora-number-active-users/

"In setting the level of the fine, the Commission took into account the duration and gravity of the infringement as well as Apple's total turnover and market capitalization. It also factored in that Apple submitted incorrect (aka untruthful) information in the framework of the administrative procedure.

In addition, the Commission decided to add to the basic amount of the fine an additional lump sum of €1.8 billion to ensure that the overall fine imposed on Apple is sufficiently deterrent. Such lump sum fine was necessary in this case because a significant part of the harm caused by the infringement consists of non-monetary harm, which cannot be properly accounted for under the revenue-based methodology as set out in the Commission's 2006 Guidelines on Fines. In addition, the fine must be sufficient to deter Apple from repeating the present or a similar infringement; and to deter other companies of a similar size and with similar resources from committing the same or a similar infringement.

The Commission has concluded that the total amount of the fine of over €1.8 billion is proportionate to Apple's global revenues and is necessary to achieve deterrence."

As I said in the earlier post, Google and Microsoft fines were not solely dependent on the monetary damages to others for breaking competition law and fined $Billions for it. They've been there and learned that fines are sometimes meant to discourage a repeat of the same behavior.  Apple is pushing the limits to see how it applies to its own practices, and they're certainly rich enough to test the waters. 

Edit: Heck, take that piddling amount of money out of its stock buyback program since no one would notice it anyway. It will have a near zero impact on Apple's wealth, IMHO.