Comment by shuckles

5 months ago

The EU has not declared that Android gatekeeps headphone technology, so the comparison to Pixel Buds is totally irrelevant. There is no interop requirement placed on them.

18 comments

shuckles

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alextingle  5 months ago

So all Apple needs to do is stop gatekeeping headphone technology.

  • Thorrez  5 months ago

    What is the definition of gatekeeping technology?

    • Y-bar  5 months ago

      In Apple’s case it mostly means that the API:s Apple use for the AirPods use should be available for others to also use. Apple is not allowed to deny or punish headphones from other manufacturers that want to use those API:s.

      3 replies →

    • shuckles  5 months ago

      It’s some combination of a market companies in the EU care about where Apple sells a product that has some amount of market share, where the threshold and market definition are totally made up and seem to only impact foreign multinationals.

      1 reply →

isodev  5 months ago

So Apple is welcome to divest AirPods into a separate company and problem solved. Who knows, "AirPods Inc" may discover there are a great many phone brands out there that could use a nice integration and extra features. Win for consumers.

  • littlecranky67  5 months ago

    I agree, the Beats takeover should have never happened. The US is basically allowing everything to be swallowed by big-tech.

    • ch4s3  5 months ago

      > the Beats takeover should have never happened.

      I agree from a business perspective, those headphones were all brand and a bad fit for apple from a quality perspective. Do we really need regulators deciding when businesses are wasting their money?

  • ch4s3  5 months ago

    The integration works so well because airpods and apple phones use a protocol that isn't bluetooth, their "Magic protocol". You have to own the whole stack to make it work so well.

  • nisegami  5 months ago

    I wish this would happen. I loved my AirPods Pros 2 but the Android/Windows support was so abysmal that I eventually ditched them.