Manton Reece on Apple’s EU App Store game:

Because of their decades of truly great products, Apple thinks they are more clever than anyone else. Because of their focus on privacy, Apple thinks they are righteous. Because of their financial success, Apple thinks they are more powerful than governments. The DMA will test whether they’re right.

Apple is trading on brand reputation and trust, which is a dangerous game. Once it’s gone, it’s very hard to get back.

I wonder how much of this is driven by needing a revenue engine not tied to user data for AI, since their privacy stance makes it hard.