APPLE has warned gadget owners could miss out on new features in a stark warning over government crackdowns.
A top Apple exec told The Sun that EU regulation has paused the rollout of new iPhone, Mac and AirPods tricks to millions of Europeans – and “other governments could make the same mistakes”.
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It comes at the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority is probing both Apple and Google over potential market dominance.
The CMA is deciding whether to give Apple “Strategic Market Status”, or SMS, which would force it to follow anti-competition rules or face very large fines. These rules are more focused compared to EU legislation that affects all tech firms in a sweeping way.
In a briefing to The Sun, Apple’s Greg ‘Joz’ Joswiak has complained that strict EU rules are already putting user privacy at risk, and leading to major delays for features that Americans get instant access to.
“It has resulted in some pretty unintended consequences for users in the EU, developers in the EU, and us,” said Joz, Apple’s senior VP of worldwide marketing.
“It has undermined the privacy and security of users in a way that is unlike anything we’ve ever seen.
“It’s hampered our ability to innovate. It’s forcing us to give away our technology for free.”
FRESH GADGET FEUD
Earlier this month, Apple showed off several new gadgets, including the new iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air, the AirPods Pro 3, and new Apple Watch models.
But several new features available on these devices won’t be available to users in Europe initially.
That includes a Live Translation feature that uses a secure connection between the iPhone and AirPods to translate foreign languages in real-time – beaming audio straight to your ears as you speak to someone.
Another feature called Visited Places on Apple Maps that lets your iPhone privately analyse your location (without Apple seeing it) to give you personalised advice, like ways to commute faster, will also be missing in the EU.
And EU users also miss out on iPhone Mirroring, which lets you use a virtual version of your mobile on your Mac computer.
Apple says that all of these features require significant privacy measures, but EU rules would let any other company access these tricks – potentially in an insecure way.
“We have created products and features for years that we think are pretty compelling,” Joz said.
“But we’ve never compromised our users’ privacy and security. That is now under attack and at great risk in Europe.”
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He continued: “We’re being asked to share your history – European users’ history – of every Wi-Fi network they’ve ever joined.
“We’ve been asked to provide the complete contents of notifications that come to the device.
“That can reveal contents of messages, emails, even medical alerts.”
APPLE CRACKDOWN
The CMA closed its consultation on giving Apple SMS on August 20, and is expected to make a decision next month.
Around 90 to 100% of UK phones run on either Apple or Google platforms.
And the CMA has suggested that Apple makes a number of changes, around interoperability (making Apple gadgets and features more open) and transparency (on how apps are ranked and reviewed, for instance).
The Sun understands that there are two main areas of “interoperability” focus for the CMA.
One is around broadening access to digital wallets on Apple devices, and the other is examining how third-party devices are able to connect to Apple gadgets compared to products like the Apple Watch.
Over the weekend, the EU rejected five interoperability waiver requests from Apple.
They’re linked to several features around iOS notifications, file transfers, and automatic audio switching.
WHAT WAS ANNOUNCED AT THE APPLE EVENT?
Here are all the new gadgets announced during the September 9 Apple event…
- iPhone 17
- iPhone Air
- iPhone 17 Pro
- iPhone 17 Pro Max
- Apple Watch Series 11
- Apple Watch Ultra 3
- Apple Watch SE
- Apple AirPods 3
Apple says that it restricts the features to avoid giving away its designs for free, and to lock down privacy for users.
“Unfortunately, we have bureaucrats living in Brussels who are second-guessing those decisions,” Joz told us.
“And making judgements that lack a fundamental understanding of how software is built – and failing to comprehend the risk to users.
“And Europe has, quite frankly, introduced a framework that goes way too far in this area.
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“And they’re creating a worse experience for their citizens, our users.”
Some critics have said that Apple is holding back features to hit back at the EU by punishing users.
But Joz added: “It is not in our interest to hold any features back from our users.”
And he warned that the consequence was “a pretty significant risk to our users’ information, to their privacy, to their security”.
GADGET GOODNESS
Many Apple features work more effectively inside the company’s own gadget ecosystem.
One major example is Apple AirPods, the company’s popular wireless earbuds.
The Apple AirPods have several perks for iPhone that other headphone brands aren’t able to offer.
That includes instant and seamless Apple device pairing and switching, the Share Audio feature, Spatial Audio, the Announce Notifications feature, and Live Translation.
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But Apple says that it takes significant investment to develop these features.
And that letting other brands use those features could expose the contents of your notifications and the conversations you’re having.
“Think back to the very first time you saw AirPods work,” Joz noted.
“You flipped open the case, a little dialogue popped up on your iPhone. Tap connect – now it’s paired to your iPhone. It’s paired to all your Apple devices.
“No Bluetooth pairing experience was ever like that.
“In the 30 years or close to 30 years that Bluetooth has existed, there was nothing like that. And we just didn’t do that over the course of a few months of development.
“That took a long time. That took years of hardware and software preparation in order to do that. The chips that allowed us to help do that.
“While the European rules say that we couldn’t do that. We couldn’t do that on day one unless we could make that available to everybody.”
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“And that would have dramatically delayed the feature, or made us water it down because we’d have to, again, design it to a lowest common denominator, and give it away for free.
“So that doesn’t encourage innovation, that discourages it.”
He added: “Unfortunately, we’ve got millions of our European customers who are pretty disappointed, pretty frustrated.”
Speaking to The Sun, a CMA spokesperson said: “The UK digital markets competition regime works in a fundamentally different way to the EU.
“With flexibility to design bespoke solutions which are both proportionate and work in practice for businesses and consumers.
“It is designed to help UK businesses, including our thriving app developer economy, innovate and grow.
“While ensuring UK consumers don’t miss out on innovation being introduced in other countries.”
EU ROW
The Sun understands that the CMA’s position is that the UK’s Digital Markets Competition Regime has a more targeted approach than the EU.
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It delivers legally binding actions that are only applied to companies that have been designated with “Strategic Market Status”.
And companies are only given that designation after an investigation and consultation.
In the EU, the DMA – or Digital Markets Act – sets our rules that all digital companies need to follow.
Speaking to The Sun, an EU Commission spokesperson said: “This is a unilateral decision by Apple.
“The DMA does not impede the launch of new products in EU markets.
“To the opposite, it preserves innovation and freedom of choice.
“And let’s not forget: the EU is a market of 450 million people.
“Last time companies (e.g. Apple delayed Apple Intelligence) took such a decision, it had to be reversed because of the impact on their sales.”
A new statement issued by Apple today notes: “The European Commission’s actions continue to undermine the privacy and security of users in Europe, threaten the highly integrated experience our users love, and require Apple to give our intellectual property to our competitors for free.
“European regulators are demanding that we hand over highly personal information.
“For example, forcing us to give third parties access to the complete list of Wi-Fi networks each user has ever joined, along with decrypting the sensitive contents of their notifications.
“At every turn, the Commission has rejected our substantial concerns about mandates that are bad for users privacy and security.
“In order to give a few large competitors unfettered access to Apple’s innovations and our users personal information.”
