In the reality called the European Union, where phones already have to ask you to pick the default browser during device setup, and Android specifically has to also ask you to pick a default search engine (Apple doesn't have to because they don't own one). AirDrop and iMessage (and WhatsApp) have already been legally ruled against and forced to open up, but that's not the reality as of yet. It will be in a few years from now.

> What I think the author is referring to are the minor concessions Apple has made in some territories, mainly the EU. And even there, they're using every dirty trick at their disposal to do the absolute bare minimum.

It's not Apple specifically, not even a little bit. All of this is a consequence of one piece of legislation called the Digital Markets Act and it applies to everyone that is defined as the "digital gatekeeper" according to that piece of legislation, but the exact steps they need to take are not written in the law and are decided on a case-by-case basis. Such malicious compliance tricks are normal on a short timescale, but on a large-enough timescale they get ironed out and we all get to live in a less monopolistic world as a consequence.

You can join that reality too! One properly thought out piece of legislation can turn the whole thing around.

> Anti-competitive moats are still alive and well, and growing larger. It's curious that the author is positive about "AI", when that is the ultimate moat builder right now. Nobody can basically touch the largest players, since they have the most resources and access to mind-bogglingly large datacenters.

If they become large enough to matter, they will also be designated as "digital gatekeepers", and then the steps they need to do to open up will be decided. They are not that large (within the European Union) as of yet.

The EU is clearly leading the way in consumer protection, but it still leaves a lot to be desired, and in some ways it's regressing.

The GDPR was well intentioned, but poorly specified, so companies resorted to all sorts of loop holes. It also wasn't enforced well or harshly enough, so fines just became the cost of doing business for companies. Now it's being rolled back to meet "growth" demands and appease "AI" companies.

The Chat Control regulation is on the horizon, and bound to be passed in some form soon. I suppose we must sacrifice privacy to protect the children.

So it's good that some effort is being made to protect consumers, but the pressure from tech companies and the desire to not be left behind in tech innovation by the US and China will likely continue to be higher priorities. Along with some puzzling self-sabotaging decisions and increasingly right-leaning influence, all of this is undermining most of that work.