Europe

Members of the European Parliament this week voted overwhelmingly in support of legislation that will compel Apple to offer a USB-C port on all iPhones, iPads, and AirPods in Europe. The proposal, known as a directive, will force all consumer electronics manufacturers who sell devices in Europe to ensure that all new phones, tablets, laptops, digital cameras, headphones, headsets, handheld...

European lawmakers have provisionally agreed upon a new law that would force Apple to allow user access to third-party app stores and permit the sideloading of apps on iPhones and iPads, among other sweeping changes designed to make the digital sector fairer and more competitive. The European Council and European Parliament said on Friday they had reached a political agreement on the...

The European Commission is planning to charge Apple with anticompetitive behavior with regards to Apple Pay, since it is the only payment service that can use the iPhone's Near-Field Communication (NFC) chip, Reuters reports. EU antitrust investigator Margrethe Vestager has been investigating ‌Apple Pay‌ since June last year, but the European Commission has since centered its focus on the...

Apple may be forced to remove the Lightning port from the iPhone in favor of USB-C, according to legislation expected be presented by the European Commission next month, Reuters reports. The legislation would establish a common charging port for all mobile phones and other relevant devices in all European Union countries. The move is expected to primarily affect Apple, since many popular...

Apple has opened orders for its Beats Studio Buds on the other side of the Atlantic, with the wireless earbuds now available in several European countries including France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Additional retailers like Amazon and John Lewis are also selling them. Launched in the U.S. and Canda last month, Beats Studio Buds feature a compact round design without any ...

Apple has published a new video to its official regional YouTube channels for European countries that focuses specifically on the new privacy features coming with iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. The video, simply titled "Privacy," opens with CEO Tim Cook speaking to the camera and explaining Apple's long-standing stance on the topic: At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right. We work ...

Apple has been found to be in breach of EU competition law with Apple Music, according to the preliminary findings of the European Commission. The charges relate to a two-year-old antitrust dispute initiated by Spotify. The European Commission was expected to bring charges against Apple over concerns that its App Store rules break EU competition law this week, and ahead of a formal verdict,...

The European Commission will this week bring charges against Apple over concerns that its App Store rules break EU competition law, reports the Financial Times. The charges relate to a two-year-old antitrust dispute with Spotify. Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition chief, will late this week publicly issue charges against Apple over concerns that the rules it sets for developers on its...

Apple says its App Store now supports more than 330,000 jobs in the U.K., a 10% increase over the past year, despite the pressures of the global health crisis on the nation's economy. According to Apple, 2020 was a "breakthrough year" for the iOS app economy, with developers in the U.K. generating more than £3.6 billion in total earnings, which represents 22% in growth compared to the...

Apple will make Munich its European Silicon Design Center, the company announced today. Work already being undertaken by Apple in Bavaria's capital is contributing to its custom Apple silicon designs, while the expansion, together with additional investment in R&D, will exceed 1 billion euros in the next three years. Apple says the new state-of-the-art facility will bring hundreds of new...

EU regulators are in the process of finalizing a charge sheet against Apple, initiated by an antitrust complaint from Spotify (via Reuters). In 2019, Spotify filed a complaint with the European Commission, alleging that Apple enforces App Store rules that "purposely limit choice and stifle innovation at the expense of the user experience," accusing the company of "acting as both a player...

More than a month ago, LG's 24-inch 4K UltraFine display was removed from Apple's online store across Europe. Now, the higher-end 5K, 27-inch UltraFine display has also been removed from Apple's online store in several European countries, such as France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK. Interestingly, both the 4K and 5K UltraFine displays remain listed and available for order...

France is pushing for changes to the EU's upcoming regulations on big tech companies, including Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook, that would make it easier for governments to penalize bad behavior and widen controls on content, according to a new report by the Financial Times. The Digital Services Act, presented in December 2020, is designed to tackle illegal online content in the...

The European Union has set out its grounds of appeal against Apple's victory in its $13 billion euro ($15.8 billion) tax dispute, saying that judges used "contradictory reasoning" when they ruled that Apple's business in Ireland was not liable for significant payments (via Bloomberg). In a summary of its appeal published earlier today, the EU set out its determination to challenge the court...

Apple CEO Tim Cook will speak at the EU Computers, Privacy, and Data Protection (CPDP) conference later this week (via Macerkopf). CPDP is a Brussels-based non-profit platform founded in 2007 by a group of European universities. The conference offers an insight into legal, regulatory, academic, and technological development in privacy and data protection, and seeks to discuss emerging...

LG's UltraFine 4K Display listing appears to have been removed from regional Apple Stores across Europe sometime over the last 48 hours. The LG monitor was out of stock for quite some time in Europe over the holiday period. Now it no longer shows up in searches of Apple's online stores in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and several other European countries....

One day after their official launch, AirPods Max have now become available in select Apple Stores for same-day pickup in several European countries, including France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. ‌AirPods Max‌ are currently available for pickup in some stores in Space Gray and Silver, but other colors remain largely unavailable with some exceptions. In-store pickup options are...

Big tech companies, including Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook, could soon face new wide-reaching regulations in the European Union, under new legislation presented today by the European Commission (via CNBC). Amid concern for smaller European companies looking to compete in the European market, the European Commission today presented two new pieces of legislation that aim to strictly...

Irish lawmakers implementing European Union directives are proposing new legislation that would require streaming services, including Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix, to host at least 30 percent European content or face being shut down across the EU. These clauses of the "General Scheme of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill" come in response to the overwhelming amount...

An EU consumer advocacy group has filed class-action lawsuits against Apple in both Belgium and Spain for "unfair and misleading commercial practices" related to the iPhone performance management system it introduced in iOS 10.2.1 without informing customers. Brought by Euroconsumers, which describes itself as the "world's leading consumer cluster organization," the suits allege that the...