Source: MacRumors
Apple is building interoperability bridges for wearables under DMA pressure, allowing non-Apple devices to pair and receive notifications through iOS with the friction-free experience currently exclusive to AirPods. This is regulatory extraction of Apple’s proprietary advantage, forcing the company to commoditize one of its stickiest hardware ecosystems. The mechanism matters: once seamless pairing becomes table stakes rather than an Apple privilege, third-party makers gain real competitive oxygen, potentially destabilizing Apple’s wearables revenue while setting a template for EU regulators to use interoperability demands across other tech monopolies.