They threatened to & then followed through turning off Advanced Data Protection in the UK and removed the features, pointing to the pending laws in that region.
Apple does not seem to have a reputation for bluffing.
Apple does not seem to have a reputation for bluffing.
What would the EU lose?
Tariffs also become less of Apple's problem when the phones aren't being sold via official channels. The EU is not a growing market of consideration compared to China or India.
> What would the EU lose?
A very secure smartphone option for consumers.
The US & China are much bigger, more important markets for Apple.
It appears that Europe is 26% of Apple's revenue. (https://bullfincher.io/companies/apple/revenue-by-geography)
EU is 7% of Apple's app store revenue specifically, not total revenue.
Definitely makes it seem more likely they are bluffing in that case unless they plan on just selling dumb phones with no app store.
Heard of Lenovo & Superfish or just don't care about that kind of thing when choosing a vendor?
Any app targeting the EU is then required to go android first, and other markets will have a real life sample of what happens when Apple leaves, which won't be as catastrophic as Apple predicts.
Sony and Sharp won't be crying a river if Japan does the same move for instance.
I doubt that.
E.g. according to these charts, it's at least a quarter of profits: https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/aapl/metrics/revenue-by-geo...
> so I'm also in the camp of "I don't think they are bluffing."
How big is Russian market do you think? They didn't quit even that, and here we are pretending that Apple is going to quit EU.
> They'd still have UK & Norway, both of which have a higher share of iOS than other European nations.
UK and Norway is ~75 million people
EU is 450 million people
> The US & China are much bigger, more important markets for Apple.
So, a wealthy US market with 350 million people is very important. Unlike the wealthy EU market with 450 million people which Apple can just easily abandon.
Definitely makes it seem more likely they are bluffing in that case unless they plan on just selling dumb phones with no app store.
Apple has done other unprecedented things, after claiming "if this doesn't change, we will take something from customers"
Apple rarely takes something from customers, to the point I'm searching for examples beyond iCards... which are back recently as Invites
It’s like a comparison of “I’d be mildly annoyed” vs. “I’ll burn myself alive” as far as reactions go.
Unless Apple devices become illegal to import or use (unlikely), the resultant gray market will starve said governments of significant yearly iPhone + case purchase VAT
Apple might lose something like 1/2 the revenue you suggest in a realistic scenario. 12% is nothing for a company like Apple who has a strong POV.
For a few more years until their former customers move on to competitor's walled garden and become their customers.
> starve said governments of significant yearly iPhone + case purchase VAT
I can't believe any government seriously feeling the lack of VAT from iPhone sales. That's tiny, even for tiny countries in the EU.
Not to mention lack of iPhone sales don't equal lack of Smartphone sales, and grey markets would make an already pricy product even pricier and less desirable because of lack of support, warranty etc.
Other brands will sell, and VAT will be collected.
Ah yeah, people really don't mind giving up things like iMessage, as we've clearly seen.
Those are not exactly the same thing, but Apple playing political games and emit the message they want without any reality behind it isn't new. They'll use whatever tool they have at hand if they see a strong enough chance to get away with it.