I only have one question. What will Apple do? Will they make the next phone USB-C as “required “. Or will they do it “the Apple way”. It’s been rumored for some time that Apple wants to remove all contacts to the phone. Will they still do that? Will they in effect tell the EC to F off? It’s going to be interesting to say the least.
Through the intent of this law, either move is fine. It's not like the EU is getting some kind of payment from USB-C jack vs. Lightning usage.
This is very simple law: an increasingly dominant company in a market is pressing a proprietary jack with no tangible benefit over a standardized jack that even that company themselves uses in the rest of their product mix. The proprietary cables and related hardware generally costs consumers MORE than the commoditized standard cables and jack in everything else. Get this growing power to comply with the standard and it is likely to benefit all EU consumers.
If Apple responds by rolling out an iPhone with no jack, that just as good through the intent of this law. EU consumers can buy that all-wireless iPhone and not have to pay extra for a proprietary anything to get full use of that iPhone.
The gist of this comes down to "forcing the future" as we spun to each other here to rationalize Apple adopting USB-C in that MB all those years ago. Unfortunately, it is taking GOV actions to get Apple to finish what
they started. However, as soon as they do, the pro-lightning crowd will quickly evaporate (just as the pro-30-pin crowd did before them... and the firewire crowd before them). The drama and resistance is mostly fueled by what Apple has
for sale now. Roll out USB-C or all-wireless iPhone and the bulk of the pro-lightning crowd will quickly jump right on that next train.