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iOS 26.3 brings AirPods-like pairing to third-party devices in EU under DMA

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Re: iOS 26.3 brings AirPods-like pairing to third-party devices in EU under DMA

#121

Post by websap »

illiac786 wrote: post #119
tiffanyh wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or it disincentivizes creating those features, if you must give it to your competitors.

I would agree in general, but in this specific case it’s still an advantage for the iOS platform in general. It just removes a buying incentive for the AirPods. The general problem is that there must be a line. Vendors don’t create lock-ins because they are malicious, they create it because it makes them money. Now, if we limit these lock-ins, it will reduce their ability to make money and yes, it will impact some fe…

I actually have a problem with this. I want AirPods to be undeniably the best experience for me because I am fully locked into the Apple ecosystem, and I know many folks have complaints against that. I find it to be rather pleasurable to use compared to all the other alternatives out there. So if I have to start sacrificing my experience in favor of universal support, that really sucks.

Re: iOS 26.3 brings AirPods-like pairing to third-party devices in EU under DMA

#122

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

eptcyka wrote: post #47
bluescrn wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can headphones that stick to the spec actually play nicely with multiple devices? - switching quickly between phone and laptop like Airpods do?

I can stop music on my phone and immediately listen to music from my laptop. I have non-apple headphones, a non-apple laptop and an iPhone. There is no apple magic dust that makes this happen.

Can you do that with 7 devices? Can you pair your device with your phone and it automatically pairs with all of your devices?

Re: iOS 26.3 brings AirPods-like pairing to third-party devices in EU under DMA

#123

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #89
jwr wrote: post #36

I have no doubt that Gruber will find reasons why the EU is bad and regulation is bad. At this point it's rather amusing how Daring Fireball (and many other American media) rants against regulation, and in another post complains about how companies exploit users. Regulation is unfortunately necessary: the market isn't as magical as we would like it to be and competition is not a magic wand that makes everything good…

His business is too tied to being in Apple's good graces anyway to take him that seriously these days. In the past he's been given access well above a lot of bigger outlets and way above what a blog that size should have especially when most of his social media output is now on mastodon to an audience the fraction of his X size. All though I would say EU regulation has far more misses than hits, this and forcing Appl…

You realize he just famously got in Apple’s “bad graces” this year with his “Something is rotten in Cupertino” post and for the first time in a decade they didn’t make an Apple executive available to be on his post WWDC live show?

Let’s not forget also that the EU first wanted to standardize on micro USB.

Re: iOS 26.3 brings AirPods-like pairing to third-party devices in EU under DMA

#124

Post by fsh »

bluescrn wrote: post #34
heavyset_go wrote: post #32

Currently, on the AirPods side and not iOS side like the article covers, Apple breaks Bluetooth feature parity with other devices by not sticking to the Bluetooth spec with AirPods themselves. For example, you need to root and patch your Bluetooth stack on your phone if you want to use all of your AirPods features on Android, and not because Android is doing something wrong, it's because the Android Bluetooth stack a…

Can headphones that stick to the spec actually play nicely with multiple devices? - switching quickly between phone and laptop like Airpods do?

Yes, this is called Bluetooth multipoint and has been common on non-Apple devices (for example Bose) for a few years now. Requires no logins and is vendor-agnostic.

Re: iOS 26.3 brings AirPods-like pairing to third-party devices in EU under DMA

#125

Post by reorder9695 »

websap wrote: post #121
illiac786 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would agree in general, but in this specific case it’s still an advantage for the iOS platform in general. It just removes a buying incentive for the AirPods. The general problem is that there must be a line. Vendors don’t create lock-ins because they are malicious, they create it because it makes them money. Now, if we limit these lock-ins, it will reduce their ability to make money and yes, it will impact some fe…

I actually have a problem with this. I want AirPods to be undeniably the best experience for me because I am fully locked into the Apple ecosystem, and I know many folks have complaints against that. I find it to be rather pleasurable to use compared to all the other alternatives out there. So if I have to start sacrificing my experience in favor of universal support, that really sucks.

But this isn't sacrificing your experience, you're free to keep using your Apple AirPods with the quality and reliability you'd expect from Apple. This just means other brands can create products with similar features to AirPods, and if they're not as good or reliable, well that's why you're paying Apple for theirs.

Re: iOS 26.3 brings AirPods-like pairing to third-party devices in EU under DMA

#126

Post by bigyabai »

llmslave2 wrote: post #111
hshdhdhj4444 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Markets depend on regulations. Free market absolutists don’t know what they are talking about. The actual originators of market capitalism, most famously Adam Smith, but also proponents like Milton Friedman, had no such confusion. In reality, today’s free market absolutists don’t get their ideas from economists (even free market economists). Instead, they get their ideas from terrible mid 20th century novelists (I’ll…

What is the point of responding to someone if you're going to completely ignore everything they say? Serious question, I'm curious what compels you to do this. Especially in such an arrogant and condescending way.

What you said is a bigger fantasy than the complete history of fundamentalist Marxism. There are precisely zero examples of a Laissez-faire economy succeeding in the real world. It is a wholecloth fiction.

If you'd like to reconsider your stance from a realpolitik perspective, it might clarify the parent's response.

Re: iOS 26.3 brings AirPods-like pairing to third-party devices in EU under DMA

#127

Post by illiac786 »

websap wrote: post #121
illiac786 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would agree in general, but in this specific case it’s still an advantage for the iOS platform in general. It just removes a buying incentive for the AirPods. The general problem is that there must be a line. Vendors don’t create lock-ins because they are malicious, they create it because it makes them money. Now, if we limit these lock-ins, it will reduce their ability to make money and yes, it will impact some fe…

I actually have a problem with this. I want AirPods to be undeniably the best experience for me because I am fully locked into the Apple ecosystem, and I know many folks have complaints against that. I find it to be rather pleasurable to use compared to all the other alternatives out there. So if I have to start sacrificing my experience in favor of universal support, that really sucks.

the long term innovation outlooks are still better, so you benefit long term as well.

It’s just less obvious / measurable that immediate benefits.

And also, short term, isn’t it that other EarPods are getting better, rather than AirPods getting worse?

Medium term, I don’t think that Apple will stop innovating on AirPods just because of the EU market and this one feature not being exclusive to AirPods anymore. But it’s a possibility, I agree.

Re: iOS 26.3 brings AirPods-like pairing to third-party devices in EU under DMA

#128

Post by userbinator »

heavyset_go wrote: post #32

Currently, on the AirPods side and not iOS side like the article covers, Apple breaks Bluetooth feature parity with other devices by not sticking to the Bluetooth spec with AirPods themselves. For example, you need to root and patch your Bluetooth stack on your phone if you want to use all of your AirPods features on Android, and not because Android is doing something wrong, it's because the Android Bluetooth stack a…

Even no name earbuds on Amazon manage to not break Bluetooth and can offer cross platform high quality audio over Bluetooth

That's because they're all based on a small set of BT SoCs from companies who are not exclusively dependent on the Apple ecosystem and need to interoperate with everything BT-compliant.

Re: iOS 26.3 brings AirPods-like pairing to third-party devices in EU under DMA

#129

Post by ngetchell »

ankit219 wrote: post #108
jonway wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big disagree that integrated always works better than modular writ large, but in any case maybe they could just hire this guy to do it? https://github.com/kavishdevar/librepods

Its mostly true when the integrating company cares for the user experience. Which apple clearly does. The example you shared is the opposite. I am imagining a kernel today written in a manner that airpods would be able to use it to extract the max out of it. Now, it has to support 10 other third party pods, so at the minimum, kernel would be more generalized.

A company that produces a wireless mouse that charges upside down really does not care about user experience.

Re: iOS 26.3 brings AirPods-like pairing to third-party devices in EU under DMA

#130

Post by websiteapi »

avianlyric wrote: post #117
tiffanyh wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or it disincentivizes creating those features, if you must give it to your competitors.

That’s a rather silly view to take. We have a phenomenon called “the first mover advantage” for a reason. Plenty of other markets and businesses operate just fine while operating in an environment that makes protecting individual innovation functionally impossible. Just look at any related to fast fashion (not that I think the fast fashion market is a healthy phenomenon) or any commodities market. Or for that matter,…

"plenty of other markets" have way smaller margins and are not nearly as robust an industry as software.
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