This is not compatible with AirTags in any way, no? Wouldn't this be a great opportunity for a common standard? Or is there one?
Bluetooth used to support file transfers from device to device on feature- and early smartphones no matter the brand; now there's AirDrop (and maybe sometimes Google Nearby, but only if the humidity and lunar phase is just right).
In home audio streaming, there was once DLNA; now there's AirPlay and Google Cast.
We have two mutually incompatible walled gardens, and while life within them is admittedly nicer than in a world of poorly-implemented standards, the walls are getting higher by the day.
But would it kill them to just support both? I’d take sometimes janky, always slow transfers to Android over having to WhatsApp photos to somebody literally next to me any day.
But much more reliable than pairing and connecting/reconnecting to audio devices for example.
There are clauses in there that mandate gatekeepers to give access to all kinds of interfaces only accessible to the native OS or first-party apps. I'd expect AWDL/AirDrop to match the type of thing the EU wants Apple to open up quite nicely.
If Google had any interest in shaking the duopoly, they'd of course be first to request Apple to open up AirDrop access to Android.
Realistically we'll hopefully see at least some third-party app vendor that bridges the gap with something that doesn't need an install on both iOS and Android, since in many AirDrop scenarios people don't have time, knowledge, or a network connection to install some unknown third-party app.
Google isn't significantly better on that metric, of course, but I feel like it's often in Google's business interests to interoperate more often than it is in Apple's.
Apple adopted USB C on their phones because the EU compelled them to. They tend to oppose standards they aren't already using.
They had already switched their laptops to all USB-C many years ago. And iPad Pros. I think the iPad Air and iPad (no name) switched as well.
There were also strong rumblings Apple was going to release the USB-C iPhones when the rule was passed.
> They tend to oppose standards they aren't already using.
You’re kidding right? Then explain USB. Or Thunderbolt. Of every other thing I listed above. Apple didn’t invent any of them and open them. They were all existing standards.
Sure, and they're now allowing game streaming apps and retro emulators on iOS because that's what they always knew was best for the world anyway. What a coincidence (with the DMA, in that case)!
> Apple didn’t invent any of them and open them. They were all existing standards.
Counterpoint: Magsafe. They had USB-C and went back to something proprietary.
Another counterpoint: Thunderbolt wasn't an open standard until very recently, and I can only imagine that Intel gave Apple some heavy discounts on the controller chips used (or even their main CPUs) to push the standard.
Apple doesn't always hate standards and interoperability, but they will absolutely try to push their proprietary protocols and interfaces whenever it's in their business interest.
The fact all their other products were moving seems to indicate they’d move to USB-C on the iPhone as well. Rumors had them working on it for years.
Now maybe it would have come out this year and not last.
MagSafe: they added something back. You can still charge with USB-C. Works fine, I do it.
Thunderbolt: that wasn’t Apple. Intel invented it and Apple put it to use. I have no idea if it’s open or closed, that’s my fault. What I meant was it wasn’t an Apple invention. Besides, what else had that kind of bandwidth at the time in a cable? It’s not like there was some common better thing they shunned.
They added MagSafe and still kept USB C charging.
> So you're saying that's what they wanted to do all along, it just took them almost ten years, and it just happened to neatly coincide with the EU regulation as well?
They had already starting to move iPads to USB C
Which they're explicitly selling as laptop alternatives, at least the Pro line.
People were already connecting all kinds of things (audio interfaces, mice, ethernet adapters etc.) to iPads using the hilariously named lignting-to-USB-host "camera adapter", and all of that is just better over USB-C.
On the iPhone, the vast majority of people only use the port for charging and maybe listening to music; the few additional iPhone sold to people that actually use them with external storage for ProRes cinematography probably pales in comparison to the lost revenue from MFI license fees.
And how much do you think Apple really made on MFI licenses as a percentage of revenue? It was a rounding error and many of the knocks off people bought from Amazon weren’t even licensed.
Honestly I am still blown away that the switch last year to USB-C was met with some positivity (often from tech people) and a bunch of ’meh’. I was expecting tons of screaming and “Apple’s making you buy all your cables again to juice their books!”