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Cross-Platform P2P Wi-Fi: How the EU Killed AWDL

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223 points stusmall | 1 comments | 28 Mar 25 13:13 UTC | HN request time: 0.211s | source
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joshstrange ◴[28 Mar 25 15:01 UTC] No.43506331[source]▶
So it's lightning all over again? Lightning was better than micro-usb, then USB-C came out and was even better and people get pissy at Apple for creating something better than the standard (and donating some of that back to the standard).

I know this will not be popular here but I really do not like the EU's most recent round of "no, you have to open up this feature".

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lxgr ◴[28 Mar 25 15:27 UTC] No.43506639[source]▶
I absolutely love it. USB-C is easily among my top 3 changes for the better on iPhones in the last 10 years.

If "Wi-Fi Aware" (almost as ridiculous a name as "Bluetooth Low Energy", but that's a different topic) ends up allowing Android to iOS file transfers without any third-party apps or network connectivity – like feature phones could, 20 years ago – that'll make the top three too.

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joshstrange ◴[28 Mar 25 15:31 UTC] No.43506699[source]▶
Apple was bringing USB-C to their entire line well before the EU "mandated" it. They were one of the first to put it on their laptops.
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lxgr ◴[28 Mar 25 15:33 UTC] No.43506722[source]▶
Yes, and they even co-developed the standard to my knowledge.

Still they were stubbornly refusing to bring it to their phones, which are their most popular product line by far, until the EU forced their hand.

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joshstrange ◴[28 Mar 25 15:59 UTC] No.43507011[source]▶
You say "refusing to bring it to their phones", I say they were cautious about changing the port for the second time ever. I'd bet my retirement fund that Apple was going to bring USB-C to the iPhone that year already or at most 1 year later. It was slowly working its way down the line and I understand them being most hesitant about touching their golden goose.

But I understand your viewpoint and, again, I love USB-C (and my iPhone). My biases are absolutely playing into my viewpoint on this. I just don't think they were dragging their feet due to wanting to make more from MFI/Lightning as some suggested, it was mostly just being slow to change something that would annoy people (and the change did annoy many people, even though I don't think they should have been annoyed).

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lxgr ◴[28 Mar 25 16:03 UTC] No.43507049[source]▶
The longer they waited, the more (now obsolete) Lightning accessories were produced and sold as a result, no?
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1. joshstrange ◴[28 Mar 25 16:27 UTC] No.43507280[source]▶
We could spend all day debating this back and forth ("What about all the lightning devices that got thrown out due to the new iPhone" - A somewhat silly argument but...) but I think we probably need to just agree to disagree. I absolutely disagree with Apple on a number of things but there is a lot of nuance here IMHO and teasing it out is well-trodden ground.