Let’s be fair, things like RCS E2E encryption are firmly under control by Google. People like to claim RCS is open, but it’s not.
If RCS was a proper open standard, we would have a lot of awesome messaging apps to choose from. We don’t, and the reason is because Google has been gatekeeping.
I’m annoyed that Apple is late to the game, and I hate that they needed to be pressured to get here, BUT I’m glad to see that they’re going to support universal alternatives to the crap you still have to ask Pichai to please let you use.
It looks like Apple is addressing one of the biggest gripes with RCS - Google’s proprietary crap that isn’t opened up to small 3rd parties. Apple wants things like E2EE to be a universal standard that anyone can use, not something Google only dishes out to big phone manufacturers.
This seems like it’s going to be a tough case to win. Or, if they did win it, it could be a big change to the retail world. This has been happening in grocery stores, electronic stores, big box stores, etc. for 50+ years. It’s really common for retailers / suppliers to strike deals for special placements or spots that are away from competing products. Best Buy or your local grocery store is a prime example of this.
As someone who has worked in retail for decades, I can attest to this Amazon-Apple relationship basically being the norm for 50 years. It really took off in the 80’s in the brick and mortar world. Stores started to realize that they could strike deals around product placement in order to make additional revenue or to woo particular manufacturers, CPGs, etc.
Makes me think that Samsung is going to have an uphill battle with this case. From grocery stores, electronic stores, big box stores, online stores. Everyone does this and there is a fair chunk of legal precedent around this.
I wonder if Apple has more pull on Amazon’s marketplace. Apple might have a bigger slice of the pie and fewer alternatives in the counties that Amazon operates in / dominates in.
US citizen here - I wish we still had politicians that resigned when they got caught in a corruption scandal. Now people use the Trump playbook. Say that the facts are a lie, and drag it out as long as possible so you can milk being in power.