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Apple announces support for alternative app marketplaces, web browser engines in the EU with iOS 17.4 (www.macstories.net)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

39 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Updated the link to a better source that gives a more detailed overview.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Devices are very strictly controlled on a hardware level for the market they are designed to operate in. It's a requirement to obtain licensing for management of radio spectrum.

It's trivial for iOS to check the internal hardware of any phone, see that it is an EU export model with all of thr Apple DRM active so you can't fake it, and adjust accordingly.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Sure but they're also sold secondhand. Also people can be born in one country, but move to live in another one... bringing their devices with them. Apple's DRM can't be tied to hardware.

Also - what if a user doesn't have an account with Apple at all? How can Apple know what country they're from? Signing up for an Apple ID is optional when you setup an iPhone - you only really need one to access the App Store and there are now alternative methods available to install apps in the EU.

There are different antennas on different devices, but all of them generally work everywhere in the world - it worst your bandwidth might be a bit lower.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

they’re also sold secondhand

Apple probably doesn't care about that, there aren't much people who'll be doing that to warrant worrying about it. I mean, are the very FOSS folks going to switch to Apple just because of this? Unlikely

Also - what if a user doesn’t have an account with Apple at all? How can Apple know what country they’re from?

Defaults based on the model's market.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Sure but they’re also sold secondhand. Also people can be born in one country, but move to live in another one… bringing their devices with them. Apple’s DRM can’t be tied to hardware.

Why not? What happens in the examples you gave? The EU won't forbid such devices entering the EU or they'd have to confiscate them off tourists. How many Americans do you know who have EU devices and vice versa? That issue may be negligible.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

If a non European citizen goes to the EU, the law should force Apple to apply this freedom to their devices too, at least while they're there.