Apple blames DMA for delaying Siri AI in Europe. The EU says nothing is stopping Apple from launching it.
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Jan Penfrat, a senior policy adviser for European Digital Rights (EDRi) ... sees Appleโs latest moves as a means of putting pressure on the EU Commission to allow it to break the DMA. โItโs very much a lobbying tactic,โ he said. โThe problem is not the DMA but Apple refusing to open up its competition-busting software ecosystem.โ
For Michael Veale, a professor of technology law and policy at University College London, the core issue is that Apple is making an exception to its own long-standing privacy and security setup โin order to stay relevant and in the gameโ when it comes to AI. โAppleโs privacy and security model is built like a Jenga tower, based on extreme vertical control by the firm, and risks collapsing when interoperability is introduced.โ In other words: Appleโs comfortable altering its own practices for Siri AI, giving the AI the ability to access lots of data across different apps, but argues the same kind of access is too dangerous when competitors ask for it.
Veale and Penfrat both said thereโs no way to properly assess Appleโs proposed solution because the company has not made it public. Other experts, such as [the professor of competition law and digital regulation at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, Friso] Bostoen, questioned why Apple needs as long as 18 months to implement it, given the interoperability requirements were predictable and should have been addressed in parallel with the development of Siri AI.
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I want an European Smartphone OS.
Make Apple & Google gtfo.
https://jolla.com/
https://commerce.jolla.com/products/jolla-phone-sep-ii-2026
How does Jolla compare to Fairphone?
Fairphone comes with android (fairphoneos or a degoogled android e/os) and is focused on repairability.
Jolla comes with their own linux mobile system called sailfishOS.
(although you can flash ubuntu touch onto fairphone 4/5)
Itโs such a shame there is no telephoto lens in the upcoming jolla phone. Maybe next time.
I think having a good, consumer ready device at an affordable price point is needed to get the ball rolling. If it was too expensive with too many bells and whistles, there would be a lot of complaints about how the software isn't ready for such high-end hardware, and that the software experience doesn't compare with similarly priced flagships. Competing with more affordable devices is advantageous as those usually have worse software support and a bloated operating system.
Not to mention, there are other practical reasons why Jolla didn't go for better hardware. They don't have the large sales numbers of giants like Apple, Samsung, or Xiaomi, so the cost of something like a telephoto lens is much higher for them than bigger brands. For one example, Nothing initially shipped phones with only two cameras, but the 3a series was the first to ship with a third camera, as by that point they had enough market share for the cost of production is reasonable. Note that Nothing has been caught doing shady marketing tricks and misleading consumers, and their devices are not very repairable.
Jolla