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Comment by rapjr9 | Hacker News Reader

Are companies now big enough that they can punish countries by withdrawing their products? This seems like yet another test of the boundaries.

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Companies have decided that some markets aren't worth the headache since forever. Countries have fine-tuned their laws to be more or less open to foreign products since forever.

The EU is acting like it has a natural right to have American companies bring every product to its market no matter how burdensome its regulations are: it doesn't.

Sorry, but Apple is just acting stupid here. They are doing this out of spite and while doing it they are creating a large competitive advantage to others. Google, Samsung, etc. were earlier in rolling out AI features and now Apple is extending that window.

Samsung has seen higher sales of their S series in some markets, driven by the AI features of the S24, whereas iPhone has been flatlining or doing slightly worse. Given that Apple's lock-in is less strong in the EU (due to the popularity of WhatsApp, etc.), there is a good chance that Apple will use marketshare over this.

Given that Apple is also rapidly losing marketshare in China, I would be asking questions if I was on the Apple board or an Apple shareholder. The behavior of the leadership is increasingly becoming a risk.

Maybe they are being stupid! You can sell your Apple stock or short it if you like. But people getting indignant about Apple's decisions are not, it seems to me, mostly offering dispassionate market analysis.

Companies today have grown so powerful that they indeed can exert influence over countries by withdrawing their products

If the country literally makes your product illegal, or ambiguously potentially illegal, what other option do you have?

Companies of a certain size have always had this power, that's why they pit countries and states against each other when setting up factories and offices.

However in this case Apple are not going to pull any models from EU markets, that would be an own goal ceding the entire region to Samsung.

Over entire trading blocs. It's crazy.

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