Withholding Apple Intelligence from EU a ‘stunning declaration’

The decision to withhold Apple Intelligence from EU countries amounts to a “stunning open declaration” of anticompetitive behavior, according to the bloc’s vice-president and competition regulator Margrethe Vestager.

Vestager made her remarks when speaking at a conference convened to discuss new ideas for strengthening the European Union …

Apple said last week that it would exclude EU countries from the roll-out of Apple Intelligence features in the fall, citing competition rules as the reason.

Apple has warned that it will not roll out the iPhone’s flagship new artificial intelligence features in Europe when they launch elsewhere this year, blaming “uncertainties” stemming from Brussels’ new competition rules […]

Apple said on Friday: “Due to the regulatory uncertainties brought about by the Digital Markets Act, we do not believe that we will be able to roll out three of these [new] features — iPhone Mirroring, SharePlay Screen Sharing enhancements and Apple Intelligence — to our EU users this year.”

Vestager described this as a stunning admission.

I find that very interesting that they say we will now deploy AI where we’re not obliged to enable competition. I think that is that is the most sort of stunning open declaration that they know 100% that this is another way of disabling competition where they have a stronghold already.

You can watch the relevant section below (it should automatically begin at this quote, but if not it’s at 1:17:15).

We’ve reached out to Apple for comment, and will update with any response.

Via Euractiv. Image: Forum Europa.