More EU meddling?

In partnership with

One of the nicest things about Apple’s ecosystem is how well all the company’s different devices work together.

When you get a new pair of AirPods, for example, you just open the case, hit a single button on your iPhone/iPad, and boom, you’re done. Your new AirPods are paired with your device; and if you use iCloud, they are automatically paired with all your other registered devices, too.

Pairing headphones from another manufacturer is a different story. Same with any other accessory. Putting third-party devices in Bluetooth pairing mode isn’t usually onerous, but it’s definitely not seamless. And they don’t get access to all the same features as Apple’s devices, either.

Take the new Pebble smartwatch, relaunched earlier this week by Core Devices as an inexpensive, hackable wearable. Although the new Pebble smartwatches look like nice alternatives to an Apple Watch, they are somewhat restricted in what they can and can’t do. A Pebble smartwatch can’t send iMessages, for example, or interact with iOS notifications to snooze them or mark them as done.

“There is no way for us to support all the functionality that Apple Watch has access to,” Core Devices (and Pebble) founder Eric Migicovsky wrote this week.

The EU aims to change that, and just sent Apple guidance about new interoperability requirements with third-party devices. The EU proposes sweeping changes, requiring other companies’ devices to receive the same access to features that Apple’s own hardware gets.

Apple, of course, isn’t happy about the proposed changes.

Apple argues, somewhat convincingly I think, that opening up its systems to third parties would stifle innovation. It would risk user security and privacy, and allow other companies to piggyback off Apple’s innovations. Under the new rules, Apple would be required to make all its new features immediately available to rivals, which would require a ton of engineering time to properly test and debug integrations.

On the other hand, I think Pebble has some good points, too. And it’s true that a lot of third-party accessories are poor cousins compared to Apple’s offerings, partly because of interoperability restrictions.

I’m conflicted about how I feel about all this. On the one hand, I’d love to get a cheap Pebble smartwatch that could do it all. I’d love it if my Sony headphones automatically paired across all my devices, too. And no, I don’t think it’s unreasonable that Apple should engineer this functionality for third-party devices. It already enables a lot of features for other manufacturers’ gadgets — why save the best features for itself? It’s clearly self-dealing.

But as Apple points out, some interoperability could come at the expense of users’ privacy. Do you really want sensitive health and wellness data gathered by some future Facebook smartwatch to be sent to Mark Zuckerberg’s rapacious data-gathering systems? For me, the answer is heck no!!!

The waters are muddied because Apple is not as manifestly evil as previously monopolistic predecessors like Microsoft, which was much more ruthless and aggressive in abusing its market-leading position. Apple takes a more softly-softly approach, but I think there’s ground for compromise.

Here’s what the EU is proposing.

Also in today’s newsletter:

• How does Apple’s first in-house modem, which recently debuted in the iPhone 16e, hold up against Qualcomm’s offerings? Pretty, pretty good.

• Back in the day, I lusted badly for a Macintosh IIfx, the “wicked fast” Mac that gave even professional workstations a run for their money. Alas, the machines were even more expensive than I remembered.

• Just $65 for this 10-inch portable CarPlay screen seems like a super-easy way to get Apple’s great infotainment system into your old jalopy. (Works with Android Auto, too.)

• I’ve been staring for hours in fascination at today’s featured setup, which includes, among other things, a very clever lighting system for looking good on video calls. Personally, the only thing that’s gonna make me look good on video is a bag over my head, but every little bit counts.

— Leander Kahney, EIC.

^{A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team}

^{A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team}

Tweets of the day

Wallpaper of the day

One more thing ...

Today’s poll

Results from yesterday’s poll: What's your strongest memory of Macs of old?

Best reader comments

Subscribe to The Weekender — Get the week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.