The European Union’s new Digital Markets Act (DMA) is a complex, many-legged beast, but at root, it is a regulation that aims to make it easier for the public to control the technology they use and rely on. One DMA rule forces the powerful “gatekeeper” tech companies to allow third-party app stores...
The EU is only one chunk of Apple’s “Europe” segment, which is defined as “European countries, as well as India, the Middle East and Africa.”
I’d heard Apple Maps was bad, but I didn’t know it was that bad.
Most companies group MENA separately. They must sell so few devices there that they don’t want to show the numbers separately
They’ve used the same segments for a long time and presumably maintain them for consistency, so I think it really just tells us that they used to sell very little there. India, in particular, has been a large growth market for Apple in the past couple of years, but is still just thrown in with “Europe.”
I can’t speak for Apple, but every company I’ve worked for has split their region reporting as soon as one of the traditionally smaller regions gets big enough
It creates hype and a boost to their stock price
And I think a lot of that revenue is in the Middle East to be honest. Those are poorer parts of the world, but with very bad culture of demonstrative consumption.
Still, how big this is for Apple is important only for Apple users. While creating a culture of not fucking around is important for everyone.
So I’d say the EU should cut Apple down right now. They’ve made a lot of bad faith and faux compliance actions. Just ban them. I’m confident there’s much more than one reason justifying that legally. No, that company doesn’t help innovation, education and whatever else.