EU may force Apple to loosen iPhone app restrictions

“EU commissioner Neelie Kroes in an interview has warned that the iPhone and other phones may be pushed open by new European interoperability rules,” Electronista reports. “Citing Apple as an example, she observed that the App Store and other closed platforms were examples of customer lock-in for proprietary technology. Kroes stopped short of proposing exact measures in a EurActiv talk but made clear Apple wouldn’t be immune to an overall push for interoperability by the European Commission, whose Digital Agenda could make licensing and publishing formats a legal requirement. ”We need to make sure that significant market players cannot just choose to deny interoperability with their product,’ she said. ‘This is particularly important in cases where standards don’t exist… This is not just about Microsoft or any big company like Apple, IBM or Intel. The main challenge is that consumers need choice when it comes to software or hardware products.'”

MacDailyNews Take: Oh, for the love of…

Electronista reports, “Apple largely provides access to the same programming interfaces as it uses for iOS devices, but it may have to make it easier for developers to write apps without using Xcode or requiring that all apps must be approved by Apple. In the US, Apple is already believed to be under FTC investigation for banning third-party development suites. Adobe and others have complained that the iOS SDK rules make it artificially difficult to develop for platforms like Android at the same time, forcing companies to spend extra for multi-platform work and often leading many to write only for iOS hardware.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Apple, along with every other company on earth that so desires, has every right to protect their platforms from lowest common denominator crapware that fails to take advantage of unique OS hooks. We don’t want generic ports excreted by lazy developers on our iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches and neither should the EU, its dingbat commissioner, the FTC, or any other government entity.

Is Ms. Kroes going to force Microsoft (Xbox), Sony (PlayStation), and Nintendo (Wii) to somehow live under her bullshit “new European interoperability rules,” too? No? Then [redacted] and go find something meaningful blather on about, honey.