Apple CEO Tim Cook Criticizes EU’s Proposed Tech Mandates

Apple CEO Tim Cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook criticized the European Union’s proposed Big Tech mandates and said the Digital Markets Act (DMA) could hurt the consumer by threatening the security of iOS devices, Apple Insider reported on Thursday (June 17).

Although he praised Europe’s GDPR privacy regulations, Cook said the DMA would require that Apple allow the side-loading of apps, which could weaken both privacy and security of iOS devices, he said at the Viva Tech conference in France during a virtual interview with India’s Brut Media.

“I mean, you look at malware as an example, and Android has 47 times more malware than iOS. Why is that? It’s because we’ve designed iOS in such a way that there’s one App Store and all of the apps are reviewed prior to going on the store,” Cook said, per Apple Insider.

The Apple CEO also spoke about augmented reality (AR), hinting that the future could hold an augmented reality product. Apple is currently working on virtual reality and AR headsets.

“We’ve been working with AR first with our phones, and iPads, and later we’ll see where that goes in terms of products,” Cook said, per a CNBC report

He declined to discuss the rumored Apple Car, saying that’s something to remain a secret for now. He also said there are a lot of ideas that never come to fruition.

“We do allow ourselves to fail. We try to fail internally, instead of externally, because we don’t want to involve customers into failure. But we develop things and subsequently decide not to ship. We begin going down a certain road and sometimes adjust significantly because of the discovery that we make in that process,” he said, per CNBC.

Apple is facing numerous antitrust investigations, including the recently announced U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) market study that also includes Google. The British watchdog said that the two companies have an effective duopoly in several areas.

The CMA also said that its research into big tech has shown “some worrying trends” that would have a negative impact on consumers and businesses.