Apple Pencil lands in the crosshairs of the EU: iPad not allowed to put third-party pens at a disadvantage

[Redaktion]

Avoiding the Apple Pencil Pro is near impossible among those who buy an Apple iPad Pro and want to use a stylus, as features such as magnetic charging or the hover function are not available with third-party styluses. This may change soon in the European Union.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-Pencil-lands-in-the-crosshairs-of-the-EU-iPad-not-allowed-to-put-third-party-pens-at-a-disadvantage.913302.0.html

[JohnMc]

I'm not particularly an Apple fanboy, but I  will never understand why Apple go along with this crap and don't just tell the EU Politicrats to go whistle. Or make the full-fat pen a US Only toy. At this rate, the EU will end up reviving British Leyland and put them in charge of manufacturing the pen. It'll be a 40-pound pole with a 5-minute battery life. But it will tick a load of boxes for all of those self-important Euro Smuggos.

[Worgarthe]

At this rate, the EU will end up reviving British Leyland and put them in charge of manufacturing the pen. It'll be a 40-pound pole with a 5-minute battery life. But it will tick a load of boxes for all of those self-important Euro Smuggos.

Read this part again:

"While there are already numerous third-party styluses compatible with the iPad and iPad Pro, Apple does not support industry standards such as MPP 2.0, while selected functions officially only work with the Apple Pencil."

For comparison, would you buy a mouse for your PC, a mouse which, sans purely basic functions, doesn't work with anything but PC manufactured by the same brand of your mouse? So you can't change DPI, you can't customise buttons and macros, you can't change polling rate, you can't... nothing. You would call that fair?

[Kenneth Gallagher]

Losing the EU market would be a huge blow for Apple.  500 million customers who are often more affluent than in many regions of the world would seriously hurt their bottom line.  Plus the EU could make intellectual property difficult to protect if there are no products being sold in the block (patents often cannot be enforced if no underlying products are sold in that region, I believe).  So it's in Apple's self-interest to comply

[Medich]

I'm not particularly an Apple fanboy, but I  will never understand why Apple go along with this crap and don't just tell the EU Politicrats to go whistle. Or make the full-fat pen a US Only toy. At this rate, the EU will end up reviving British Leyland and put them in charge of manufacturing the pen. It'll be a 40-pound pole with a 5-minute battery life. But it will tick a load of boxes for all of those self-important Euro Smuggos.

You sound disappointed that Apple products use USB-C now, another Euro Smuggo effort. Have you ever considered your view of Euro Smuggos is down to the failure of Brexit to deliver on its promises? We aren't smug, we just feel pity for your irrational act of self harm.