Apple projected to disable AirDrop in EU over DMA implementation

AirDrop is probably one of the world's most familiar methods of file-transfer, even though it has been developed to only work between a relatively small pool of devices: those exclusively made by Apple, such as iPhones, iPads and Macs.

Its often sought-after convenience and intuitive nature has come at the cost of being part of a walled garden, in which there is only 1 option to do such things and it is the in-house way.

The European Union (EU) has recently disrupted that paradigm with new requirements poised to affect the typical first-party-only Apple UI in a number of ways, from using the internet to paying for iOS apps.

The Cupertino giant's responses to the "interoperability" mandate include assertions that it is "unreasonable, costly, and stifles innovation", and arguments that it will be detrimental to the privacy and safety of its users.

Most recently, the company predicts that it will ultimately lead "to an inferior user experience for our European customers", a statement that could be taken to mean it will start suspending features like AirDrop for EU users soon.

Then again, if Apple has that much foresight, it will surely have seen that those customers will end up with less reason to keep buying their products in the future.

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