The issue of App Store competition is not new for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). It’s been hit with allegations of stifled competition before, as well as issues of paying the people who develop the apps. Now, however, it’s just run afoul of a new law in the EU, and it will be the first company to face legal action over said law. That novel proposition left investors concerned and Apple down modestly in Friday afternoon’s trading.
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A new report from the European Commission finds Apple in violation of the Digital Markets Act, which requires Apple to allow app developers on the platform to “steer” users to other platforms that aren’t Apple and to do so without requiring further fees. The Digital Markets Act was specifically set up to address this concept and even establishes several basic points that distinguish a company as a “gatekeeper.”
Such companies, in turn, are governed by a specific set of rules that seek to establish fair play and ensure that behavior can be contested appropriately. Apple, via the iPad, was added back in April to the Digital Markets Act’s provisions, and now, Apple is poised to be the first to face the Digital Markets Act’s enforcement arm.
The Death of Human Creativity?
And then, in a masterstroke of cosmic irony, it turns out that the company that told us to “think different” for decades now is potentially in line to destroy human thought. At least, that’s what a Fast Company report had to say. Specifically, it noted that Apple’s “Apple Intelligence” platform will ultimately “…erode human creativity one prompt at a time.”
This isn’t exactly a new assertion—people have wondered if AI handling art wouldn’t basically mean the end of art for some time now as people made their own art in epic scales—but with Apple Intelligence, it’s worth wondering. With tools that make images for you, write for you, and even make your handwriting pretty for you, the notion of creativity may be, effectively, crippled.
Is Apple a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on AAPL stock based on 24 Buys, 10 Holds, and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 14.73% rally in its share price over the past year, the average AAPL price target of $209.28 per share implies 1.44% downside risk.
