blastdoor

anonymouse said:

blastdoor said:

anonymouse said:

blastdoor said:

Every time I read one of these EU stories I try to think about what Apple should do to deal with this situation. It’s tempting to say Apple should just leave, but it doesn’t make sense to leave money on the table.

They won't be leaving money on the table by pulling out of the EU. First, the EU is just a fraction of what Apple classifies as "Europe" (which includes the Middle East and at least parts, if not all, of Africa), and obviously doesn't include European countries not in the EU, such as the UK and Switzerland. The fines the EU is threatening far eclipse the value of the EU as a market. Second, if EU rules force Apple to cripple, compromise or otherwise dumb down their products, that makes them less competitive in the rest of the world. There is at this point almost no upside for Apple to release anything in the EU and plenty of downside, not to mention all the resources wasted "negotiating" with EU bureaucrats who are not acting in good faith and are making up the rules as the go and changing them retroactively.

So, what exactly is the downside for Apple to simply pull out of the EU until there is a more favorable business climate there? I can't see any upside to staying at this point.

I’ve read that the EU represents about 7% of Apple’s revenues. That’s almost $30 billion a year. I see no reason to walk away from that if you don’t have to. 

I think it's less than that because Apple doesn't break out revenue for the EU as such, only "Europe" which includes the Middle East and Africa. Even actual Europe, you have to drop out revenue from non members of the EU like the UK and Switzerland.

But, even if it is 7%, if they are threatening you with fines of 10%, seems like a no brainer to drop that market. Why sell for a loss?

anonymouse said:

blastdoor said:

Every time I read one of these EU stories I try to think about what Apple should do to deal with this situation. It’s tempting to say Apple should just leave, but it doesn’t make sense to leave money on the table.

They won't be leaving money on the table by pulling out of the EU. First, the EU is just a fraction of what Apple classifies as "Europe" (which includes the Middle East and at least parts, if not all, of Africa), and obviously doesn't include European countries not in the EU, such as the UK and Switzerland. The fines the EU is threatening far eclipse the value of the EU as a market. Second, if EU rules force Apple to cripple, compromise or otherwise dumb down their products, that makes them less competitive in the rest of the world. There is at this point almost no upside for Apple to release anything in the EU and plenty of downside, not to mention all the resources wasted "negotiating" with EU bureaucrats who are not acting in good faith and are making up the rules as the go and changing them retroactively.

So, what exactly is the downside for Apple to simply pull out of the EU until there is a more favorable business climate there? I can't see any upside to staying at this point.

tmay said:

I found it interesting that the iPad is being used in the F-15EX test program;

https://www.twz.com/sponsored-content/f-15ex-testers-are-now-preparing-the-eagle-ii-for-rapidly-adapting-to-new-missions

“What the F-15EX brings that other F-15s do not is what you hear being talked about as the digital backbone of the aircraft,” adds Maj. Eshkenazi. “It has ethernet wiring running throughout the airframe and it’s linked to the weapon stations. This opens up future potential in terms of integrating weapons. We might have a separate computer or a tablet that can be linked [to the jet] that allows us to connect to the weapons stations while keeping our safety of flight elements [in the mission software] isolated. So we could run apps but not have them running through our main computer, which isolates this from the safety of flight things like the flight controls, for example. This means I’m not concerned about an app coming from a vendor that might affect my ability to fly the airplane.”

“One of the big capabilities that the F-15EX brings to the fight is the ability to rapidly put new weapons on it, because of its external carriage capacity and its ability to carry a lot of weight,” Col. Daniel Lehoski, 53rd Wing commander, further explained. “We have the independent ability to upgrade the jet’s Operational Flight Program [OFP] as well as actually working around the OFP to add some capabilities. I’ll give you an example; we have a jet that we’re using to push situational awareness and command and control [C2] capabilities to the leading edge of the fight. We’re doing that literally with an iPad hooked up to the jet in order to get information into it. That sits outside the OFP. It’s a little clunky because you have an iPad in the cockpit, but that is enabling us to add capability in conjunction with our agile OFP upgrades. The iPad is getting power from the jet and then using Link 16 datalink to communicate with the aircraft.”

mike1 said:

Alex1N said:

One of the main reasons that Apple gave at the announcement of Apple Silicon was its frustration with Intel not providing timely updates on its CPUs. And now, four years on, we appear (according to rumour at least, but the clock is definitely ticking) to be in a very similar situation - with Apple being the one to drag its feet. That’s not to say that Apple Silicon isn’t a vast improvement on the Intel offerings that it replaces, but timing issues are beginning to become apparent. It’s making purchasing a Mac much more of a gamble.

What timing issues?!

Is there another system out there that outperforms an M2 Studio? If so, then Apple might have a problem.

If not, then you simply buy the best you can afford at the time you need the system.

Your impatience doesn't drive Apple's product plans.

There is always that someone who is waiting for something better/faster/smaller and never buys anything.

Decades ago, I worked in an electronics store and we had a nice older gentleman as a regular customer. He had the means to buy nice stuff as evidenced by his purchases over the years. Yet, he only purchased inexpensive TVs and eschewed the better performing models. He kept saying he was going to wait for one of those "TVs you can hang on a wall". Well, he passed away a few years before the first plasma sets were introduced, never mind became mainstream. I know he would have been one of the first customers for a plasma.

spheric said:

rhbellmor said:

Whenever the EU needs money for budget overruns 

Which "budget overruns" would that be that you're referring to? 

The theory that whenever the EU overruns some budget, they just go out and fine someone is kinda cute.

It's like a five-year-old trying to understand government budgeting.