Apple already denies European users Siri AI because of regulatory disputes, but now for the first time its hardware is being affected with no EU release for the HomeView.
The short version is that the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) requires Apple to provide rivals with full access to its technology from day one. Apple argues that no other firm has this burden, and moreover that it dramatically compromises users' privacy.
This is why users in the EU have not had features ranging from iPhone Mirroring and Mac Live Activities, to Siri AI. And it's now why they will not get the new HomeView, at least not at first, and possibly not ever.
"Apple HomeView is not available for sale in the European Union, as Siri AI is currently unavailable in iOS in the EU," says Apple in a footnote. "Apple is working constructively with the EU in an attempt to find a path forward."
The word "constructively" is at best optimistic, though, as Apple and the EU have had heated clashes over the DMA. The EU's repeated position has been that Apple is wrong, that its demands do not affect user privacy at all.
But they do. Under the DMA, rival firms can request access not only to features such as the NFC technology behind Apple Pay, but also user data. And Apple reports that Facebook owner Meta has asked for far more access to private user data than any of its features or services actually require.
