The European Union is the parasitic worm that wants to destroy Apple.

Benjamin Mayo from 9to5Mac:

Apple said “Today’s decisions wrap us in red tape, slowing down Apple’s ability to innovate for users in Europe and forcing us to give away our new features for free to companies who don’t have to play by the same rules. It’s bad for our products and for our European users. We will continue to work with the European Commission to help them understand our concerns on behalf of our users”.

In regards to customer privacy, Apple is especially concerned with the requirements surrounding opening up access to the iOS notification system. The company indicated these measures would allow companies to suck up all user notifications in an unencrypted form to their servers, sidestepping all privacy protections Apple typically enforces.

The company is also upset at the “red tape” imposed on its business going forward. It said the decision allows officials and third-parties to get in the way of Apple releasing new products and features to customers. As well as frustrating the development process, it is essentially being forced to give away all of its innovations to others for free.

Opening up Apple’s ecosystem to third parties for free doesn’t increase competition, it stifles it. Here are the interoperability requirements Apple has to divest resources towards:

iOS notifications: this feature allows connected devices, such as smart watches, to show and react to iOS notifications.

Background execution: iOS apps need to execute certain actions with respect to connected physical devices ‘in the background’, i.e. without the user looking directly at the app. For example, the iPhone can fetch the latest weather information and synchronise it to a smartwatch, without the need for active user interaction.

Automatic audio switching:  this feature allows users to switch between two devices, for example between a smartphone and a computer, when listening to audio with supported headphones.

High-bandwidth peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connections:this feature provides allows to establish and use a high-bandwidth Wi-Fi connection between an iOS device and connected physical devices. This high-speed connection can be used to share large files between two devices, or to cast on an iPhone what can be seen on virtual reality glasses.

Close-range wireless file transfers: this feature allows to access the same iOS-controlled features as Apple’s services in third-party file sharing apps, creating, for example, alternatives to AirDrop.

Media casting: this allows developers to develop an alternative media casting solution to Apple’s AirPlay by granting them access to required software features in a non-discriminatory way to AirPlay.

NFC Controller in Reader/Writer mode: this allows apps on an iPhone to communicate with connected devices, such as rings or bracelets, to provide them with information such as a user’s payment card details. The end user can then use the ring or bracelet in a shop to perform payment transactions like with a payment card - without the presence of the iPhone. Moreover, physical smart cards can easily be read for instance to activate or secure mobile banking.

Proximity-triggered pairing: allows connected physical devices to pair with an iOS device through a simplified procedure. For example, when the user brings a new headset near the iPhone it should be able to pair immediately through a simple and streamlined procedure, independently of whether the headset is an Apple product or a third-party brand. 

Automatic Wi-Fi connection: allows to access information about local Wi-Fi networks saved on the iPhone allows connected physical devices to seamlessly join these networks. 

And of course, here are the requirements for said features:

All features on Apple will have to enable interoperability for any type of connected device, free of charge, via complete, accurate and well-documented frameworks and APIs. 

The interoperability solutions for third parties will have to be equally effective to those available to Apple and must not require more cumbersome system settings or additional user friction. 

All features on Apple will have to make available to third parties any new functionalities of the listed features once they become available to Apple. 

Apple will have to provide third parties with the technical assistance and report how it implemented the measures.

As if Apple doesn’t have enough engineering issues to resolve, now they have been slapped with this battle to deal with. Apple’s response shows their frustration, but they need to be a bit more angry.

I guess that’s hard to do unless you’re Steve Jobs since Apple was his company.

Nobody can really respond with Thermonuclear war like Steve could, but that is the type of response needed.

Steve was convinced that Android was a copy of Apple’s operating system, and now the EU is telling Apple to do all the legwork to make Apple more compatible with 3rd party devices, and to provide all that information free of charge?

Sounds like Thermonuclear war to me.