Yes, I'm sure they'll fine them, and Apple will laugh. That 'massive' $2 billion fine is the world's most gentle slap on the wrist for a company of Apple's scale. Their European revenue was $89 billion 2021 and had been regularly growing, so it's easily upwards of $100 billion. [1] And their global revenue is $383 billion. They likely earned vastly more than $2 billion from the bad behavior alone.
Imagine you earn $100k a year, it would be the equivalent of a $520 fine - a speeding ticket. And it won't just be the $520 fine. Apple will appeal and drag it through the courts for as long as possible, both reducing the cost of it due to inflation, and also potentially getting the cost itself reduced. So you create a scenario where at the end of the day, we can engage in all the behavior we want and all we have to do is deal with a speeding ticket every once in a while, all the while the bureaucrats pat themselves on the back for really cracking the whip. This is not even close to a deterrent.
It's the ongoing practice of treating massive corporations with kid gloves, while behaving brutally towards small businesses or individuals - when, in an ideal world, it should be the exact opposite. And again, we're back to the trust issue. Because obviously the reason they're being so gentle is because they want to have the headline of really cracking down on e.g. Apple, but don't actually want to risk Apple withdrawing from the EU. And that conflict of interest will not go away, and thus will guide their future actions as well.
Imagine you earn $100k a year, it would be the equivalent of a $520 fine - a speeding ticket. And it won't just be the $520 fine. Apple will appeal and drag it through the courts for as long as possible, both reducing the cost of it due to inflation, and also potentially getting the cost itself reduced. So you create a scenario where at the end of the day, we can engage in all the behavior we want and all we have to do is deal with a speeding ticket every once in a while, all the while the bureaucrats pat themselves on the back for really cracking the whip. This is not even close to a deterrent.
It's the ongoing practice of treating massive corporations with kid gloves, while behaving brutally towards small businesses or individuals - when, in an ideal world, it should be the exact opposite. And again, we're back to the trust issue. Because obviously the reason they're being so gentle is because they want to have the headline of really cracking down on e.g. Apple, but don't actually want to risk Apple withdrawing from the EU. And that conflict of interest will not go away, and thus will guide their future actions as well.
[1] - https://www.globaldata.com/data-insights/technology--media-a...