[ygritte]

Looks like Japan learned from the malicious compliance shenanigans Apple is pulling with the EU. I hope Apple gets served some substantial fines that really hurt when they try to pull the same shit there. And I say, "when", not "if".

[namibj]

Imagine banning sale and import, wonder how long Apple stores have to be closed for Apple to give in....

[onlyrealcuzzo]

Wouldn't people in Japan riot because they can't buy iPhones and be part of the tribe?

There are few things in life people like more than their iPhones.

[bigyabai]

I think you're extrapolating America's materialism to other cultures that don't necessarily care so much. There's not really any feature of the iPhone that can't be replaced by another product. It's only Americans that feel the need to slake brand loyalty with army-of-one boycotts.

[Alupis]

That's totally why 68.75% of Japanese smartphone users own an iPhone[1]...

[1] https://magmatranslation.com/stats/en/mobile-usage-trends-in...

[bigyabai]

I stand by what I said. Apple used to be the leading smartphone manufacturer in China, now they aren't even in the top 5. Sometimes things change, and I doubt China's in shambles because Airdrop isn't ubiquitous. I see no reason why Japan would be different.

The notion that American tech companies are invincible is really only a view held by Americans. The overwhelming majority of people I speak to internationally don't care that much about computer brand loyalty.

[Alupis]

Maybe not brand loyalty... but people, universally, want the best product available. Today, for a large portion of the world, that is perceived to be the iPhone.

The iPhone being banned in Japan because of some policy dispute with the government is going to go over like a bag of wet cement. People may not care that it's "Apple", but they do care the "Best" is being banned for reasons the population doesn't care about.

[mvdtnz]

Which has absolutely zero bearing on what he said.

[izacus]

Hehehe, like Apple tried to pull "we'll keep back AI from EU as a punishment" ? Were there riots? :)

[peterspath]

Just change your language to English on your device and you have it. They did not really try.

[jq-r]

If you're talking about Apple Intelligence that's also region locked and that's much more difficult to bypass. Device language has has nothing to do with it.

[illiac786]

Where is apple intelligence blocked? I’m in Germany right now and it’s available as far as zu can tell.

[bad_haircut72]

Nobody is gonna riot over an iphone lmao

[resource_waste]

But I like the walled prison where I can't screw up and make choices for myself. I appreciate that Apple makes it so I can't accidentally give my coordinates and have some Monarch track me and murder me or leak my noods.

+4500 upvoots

(I always thought it was suspicious that the anti-apple headline had +30k upvoots on reddit, but the top comment was pro-apple with significantly less. Its almost like they paid an external marketing team/troll farm to do reputation management)

[skybrian]

You’re thinking like an end user and not like someone who has provide tech support for others. One of the best things I did to make my life easier was getting mom a Chromebook.

[NotPractical]

You can root a Chromebook if you choose to accept the risks involved. This is officially supported.

[skybrian]

Sure, it's a nice feature, but I probably wouldn't. Maybe I'd put a sticker on it saying "my other computer is a Raspberry Pi Pico."

It's not necessary to root every device you own. You can use one to do your banking and web browsing and have entirely separate devices for hacking.

[NotPractical]

Unless you want to look like a criminal, I probably wouldn't carry around two phones everywhere you go.