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Comment by jaggederest | Hacker News Reader

> What about making Apple Watch specific APIs in iOS be made available to all third-party watch makers so any one can bring any smartwatch and use it just as effectively as the Apple Watch with an iPhone? What about all the AirPods specific APIs that lets Apple offer a better experience with AirPods than a generic bluetooth earbuds? What about Apple Pencil? And so on...

Don't threaten me with a good time? All of those seem like great policies. The fact that I cannot use an apple watch with an android phone is ridiculous, and vice versa as well.

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Should you be able to use a Samsung SoC in an Apple phone?

At some point this is just a debate about vertical integration. Apple can deliver better experiences with it, but of course it limits user choice.

Many people want fully modular, open systems, which is lowest common denominator.

I can see both sides of the argument, but I am so skeptical of regulators deciding what can be integrated or not. If modularity is better for consumers, why don’t they prefer modular systems?

At the very least I think there should be a very clear tradeoff; right now the EU seems to think they can regulate their way to all of the benefits of vertical integration while outlawing vertical integration. I don’t see how anyone could look at that with a straight face.

> Should you be able to use a Samsung SoC in an Apple phone?

How did we go in less than two comments from providing access to APIs that are already present, implemented and actively used by Apple (who in their holy wisdom deem us mortals not worthy to access these the way we choose) to a completely different hypothetical of requiring actively building support for another companies hardware?

Such slippery slopes really aren't helpful, nor in any way comparable to what the DMA actually intends or states.

> why don’t they prefer modular systems?

Because there aren’t any to choose from?

“Smartphone” has become a mandatory thing everyone is required to use to function in society without major friction.

Businesses hate supporting a ton of distinct platforms, as proved by the developer marketplace killing Windows Mobile through refusing to ship apps for it.

This suffocates any third entrants just like the FPTP voting system suffocates third political parties.

So what modular OS are people supposed to choose?

> Should you be able to use a Samsung SoC in an Apple phone?

That's irrelevant to the discussion. SoC is not a digital platform in any way under DMA. It's not a platform at all.

Yes I'd like some of these too but at the same time I get an uneasy feeling when I think that some potential idiot in a regulatory body in every country is now going to decide which API surface needs to be made available to third parties. If they take it too far, they could end up making nonsensical choices and kill innovation.

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