In the best case they are learning that, due to their own behaviour, they are now sharing custody of the EU app store with an adminstrative bureocracy.

But I suspect it'll take them more time until it fully sinks and until they are done testing their new boundaries.

Well done.

You should probably do a few cuts with Hanlon's Razor in this case.

The simplest explanation for what happened with Apple this past few weeks is that there's no master plan. The EU told them the rules, they didn't take them seriously, now they're realizing a bit late that they can't afford not to respect the rules and they're scrambling to figure out what that means.

I never give any Big Tech with nation-state influence the benefit of the doubt. This is a legal/PR stress test. They failed this one, but they won't fail others.

No catch, just the threat of "and if you keep trying to violate EU law, we're going to keep levying billion dollar fines on you until you either obey the law, or you cease all operations in Europe. Which will get you sued some more because you're still on the hook for support after you leave"

They'll try harder to find an excuse next time.