Neil Cybart 11/6/24 Neil Cybart 11/6/24

President Trump Wins Blowout Election, Impacts on Apple, Tim Cook’s Key Role

Hello everyone. We are going to take a detour and talk about the U.S. presidential election. A second Trump term will present more work for Apple, although the resulting upside is significantly greater than what would have been found with a Kamala Harris presidency. Let’s jump into today’s update.

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Neil Cybart 6/27/24 Neil Cybart 6/27/24

Apple Warns of Feature Delays in EU, Apple Accused of Breaking DMA Rules

We begin with my thoughts on Apple warning of feature delays in the EU due to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The discussion then turns to the European Commission finding Apple has broken DMA rules. We discuss a possible natural end state for the cat and mouse game.

Happy Wednesday. We will jump right into today's update.

Apple Warns of Feature Delays in EU

Heading into last week, we had good reason to assume Apple Intelligence’s rollout was going to be more gradual than consensus thought.

Apple had disclosed that the entire Apple Intelligence portfolio of features and services would be given the beta label (which also serves to avoid another Apple Maps launch debacle circa 2012). More interestingly, Apple also said Apple Intelligence would only be available in U.S. English and on select devices. Those factors told me Apple Intelligence won't be so much a September 2024 event but more of a late 2024 and 2025 event.

As it turns out, a number of features announced at WWDC may end up being delayed for Apple users in the EU.

Here's The Financial Times:

“Apple has warned that it will not roll out the iPhone’s flagship new artificial intelligence features in Europe when they launch elsewhere this year, blaming ‘uncertainties’ stemming from Brussels’ new competition rules.

The iPhone maker unveiled features two weeks ago, including a suite of ‘Apple Intelligence’ services and a partnership with OpenAI, in what chief executive Tim Cook described as its ‘next big step’ propelling the tech giant into the age of generative AI.

But Apple on Friday said complexities in making the system compatible with EU rules — which have forced it to make critical parts of its iOS software and App Store services interoperable with third parties — meant EU users will be denied certain features when they launch in other parts of the world later in 2024.

Apple said on Friday: ‘Due to the regulatory uncertainties brought about by the Digital Markets Act, we do not believe that we will be able to roll out three of these [new] features — iPhone Mirroring, SharePlay Screen Sharing enhancements and Apple Intelligence — to our EU users this year.’”

The way this news was framed on social media caught me by surprise.

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Neil Cybart 3/13/24 Neil Cybart 3/13/24

Apple Reinstates Epic Games’ EU Developer Account, The European Commission’s Dilemma, Why Apple Should Remain in the EU

Hello everyone. Welcome to a new week.

Approximately 13 hours after publishing last Thursday’s update, which came out late at night ET, we received news that Apple had reinstated Epic Games Sweden’s Apple Developer Account in the EU. This created another fiasco on social media, including Epic Games co-founder and CEO Tim Sweeney going after me on X (Twitter) for last Thursday's update.

In today’s update, we will take a closer look at the situation. The discussion will address a few points that appear to be circulating on social media.

Let’s jump in.

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Neil Cybart 3/6/24 Neil Cybart 3/6/24

EU Fines Apple $2B for Not Giving Spotify a Free Pass, The European Commission’s Missing Logic, Apple’s Response

Hello everyone. Today’s update will be focused on the European Commission fining Apple $2B for its App Store anti-steering provision. There’s quite a bit to discuss. Let’s jump right in.

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