Apple Apple said on Friday that it can not release three recently announced features, including its flagship AI product “Apple Intelligence,” within the European Union in 2024 as a consequence of “regulatory uncertainties” arising from the bloc's antitrust law, the Digital Markets Act.
Apple said in an announcement that the features – Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring and extensions to the SharePlay screen sharing product – is not going to be available to EU customers because Apple believes “that the DMA's interoperability requirements could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in a way that endangers user privacy and data security.”
The EU adopted the DMA in 2023, spurred by fears that a handful of huge technology corporations comparable to AmazonApple, alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok parent company ByteDance acted as “gatekeepers” to forestall smaller corporations from competing. DMA requires, amongst other things, that basic features work on competing devices and ecosystems.
The interoperability requirements apply to iPhones and iPads, but Macs are affected by the DMA because iPhone mirroring allows users to copy an iPhone's screen on a Mac's screen.
The lack of the corporate's AI product may very well be a disappointment to consumers. Apple Intelligence can proofread text and even rewrite it in a friendly or skilled tone. It can create custom emojis called Genmoji, scan an iPhone for specific messages from someone, summarize and transcribe phone calls, and display priority notifications. The company also announced a partnership with OpenAI and a plan for more models to be added to the platform.
Apple shares were largely unchanged following the news. Apple generated net sales of $94.3 billion in Europe in 2023, slightly below 1 / 4 of its global net sales. Apple Intelligence can even not be available in Greater China, where $72.6 billion of its 2023 sales were generated.
The company said it might work with the European Union “to find a solution that allows us to provide these features to our EU customers without compromising their security.”
image credit : www.cnbc.com