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iPhone owners can leave EU for 30 days before they lose third-party app stores

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Re: iPhone owners can leave EU for 30 days before they lose third-party app stores

#101

Post by op00to »

spywaregorilla wrote: post #17

Does a european embassy count as EU?

No. Embassies and consulates are not considered the territory of that country. They have certain special properties and immunities. This is from the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961. This agreement says the premises of embassies to be inviolable, meaning the host country cannot enter them without permission from the embassy's country. This makes it seem like embassies are like islands of their home country within a foreign nation.

However, the land on which an embassy is situated remains under the sovereignty of the host country, not the country that the embassy represents. The host country retains ultimate control over the land, although it must respect the embassy's independence and immunities. Diplomatic premises are subject to the laws of the host country to a certain extent, but with significant exceptions that allow the embassy to function as a representation of its home country's government.

The answer to your question is no.

Re: iPhone owners can leave EU for 30 days before they lose third-party app stores

#102

Post by op00to »

user_7832 wrote: post #47
spywaregorilla wrote: post #17

Does a european embassy count as EU?

Not only is this a great question, it's an excellent example of how pointless this arbitrary restriction is. Thanks, Tim Apple.

How is it a great question? The answer is no.

Re: iPhone owners can leave EU for 30 days before they lose third-party app stores

#103

Post by bongodongobob »

nbvkappowqpeop wrote: post #64
pillusmany wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a credible threat. There would be millions of people in the streets if Facebook/Whatsapp/Google were blocked due to EU regulations.

what are you talking about?

People lost their minds when Meta went down for like an hour the other day...

Re: iPhone owners can leave EU for 30 days before they lose third-party app stores

#105

Post by extraduder_ire »

geoffeg wrote: post #15

New business opportunity: A company that ships iPhones to Europe and installs/refreshes alternative app stores on them.

It's cheaper than that, if you're in the US. There's plenty of EU countries' land on the west side of the Atlantic. All over the world, in fact.

Re: iPhone owners can leave EU for 30 days before they lose third-party app stores

#106

Post by klabb3 »

wolpoli wrote: post #76
klabb3 wrote: post #57

IIUC this is a deliberate act of aggression by Apple - which is important to note. Apple already has regional accounts, so the infrastructure for this is in place already, for preexisting reasons. My Apple ID is still within US after months of being in the EU. They have not “kicked me out” yet. There’s no other way than to interpret this, and the preceding actions by Apple, as a temper tantrum of malicious compliance…

It sounds like someone in Apple is burning the corporate brand to make their division's target because the target wasn't adjusted in the face of the law. Leadership at the top is at fault.

Yes, but the concerning thing is that this behavior you’d expect from Oracle or similar. The App Store, in-app payments etc is not bad – Apple would seem to be able to compete fairly and still win a big slice of the cake – higher prices but premium experience, like they’ve always done. So.. have they stopped believing in themselves? Or did the sweet taste of monopoly turn them greedy and arrogant beyond salvation in just a decade?

Re: iPhone owners can leave EU for 30 days before they lose third-party app stores

#107

Post by wilde »

klabb3 wrote: post #57

IIUC this is a deliberate act of aggression by Apple - which is important to note. Apple already has regional accounts, so the infrastructure for this is in place already, for preexisting reasons. My Apple ID is still within US after months of being in the EU. They have not “kicked me out” yet. There’s no other way than to interpret this, and the preceding actions by Apple, as a temper tantrum of malicious compliance…

Apple has always been litigious and petty. We just looked the other way when they were innovating.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc._v._Samsung_Electron....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer,_Inc._v._Micros....

Re: iPhone owners can leave EU for 30 days before they lose third-party app stores

#108

Post by gruez »

klabb3 wrote: post #57

IIUC this is a deliberate act of aggression by Apple - which is important to note. Apple already has regional accounts, so the infrastructure for this is in place already, for preexisting reasons. My Apple ID is still within US after months of being in the EU. They have not “kicked me out” yet. There’s no other way than to interpret this, and the preceding actions by Apple, as a temper tantrum of malicious compliance…

>[...]this is a deliberate act of aggression by Apple [...]

>There’s no other way than to interpret this, and the preceding actions by Apple, as a temper tantrum of malicious compliance [...]

While it's pretty clear that most people here would have liked it if Apple rolled out third party app stores to everyone and were hoping that EU regulations would extend to non-EU users (like with USB-C charging port standard), the reality of the situation is that EU jurisdiction ends at EU borders. Apple is complying with the laws exactly, and characterizing it as "aggression" or "temper tantrum" is closer to name calling than any sort of cogent argument. Chinese regulations require Apple to store iCloud data in Chinese data centers. Apple complies with this for only Chinese users. Should this also be characterized as "aggression" or "temper tantrum"? What's the difference between these two cases beyond "I like third party app stores" and "I hate my data stored in the hands of an authoritarian regime"?

Re: iPhone owners can leave EU for 30 days before they lose third-party app stores

#109

Post by op00to »

kccqzy wrote: post #21
geoffeg wrote: post #15

New business opportunity: A company that ships iPhones to Europe and installs/refreshes alternative app stores on them.

A company that produces a device that fakes GPS (with extremely weak RF so as not to draw the ire of FCC or other government bodies) to convince the phone it is in Europe.

This would be illegal, even at a low power.

Re: iPhone owners can leave EU for 30 days before they lose third-party app stores

#110

Post by gruez »

ActualHacker wrote: post #6

How generous of them not to brick your phone once you install any unapproved software It's almost like monopolies are bad for society

iOS isn't even the #1 mobile operating system in the EU. Even in countries where it's the majority, it caps out at around 60%. Characterizing that as a "monopoly" is absurd.
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