Google didn't "crack" anything. This was done with Apple's cooperation.

I realize you're quoting the article title verbatim, but The Verge ought to be ashamed of themselves.

And the Google rep says otherwise:

When we asked Google whether it developed this feature with or without Apple’s involvement, Moriconi confirmed it was not a collab. “We accomplished this through our own implementation,”

Couldn’t that just be interpreted as ”this is 100% our code, but Apple helped us sort out the technical details”?

There was a snarky comment yesterday about hackers hating governments, being unable to trust them.

But this is the counterpoint.

More Anti-Anti-Circumvention Laws! Please! Defend our ability to explore & interoperate & extend! The world ought be open to mankind & unfurling possible futures. It's so grand seeing governments finally putting some points on the board for improving access to systems, letting us see & grasp the constructed technological world we are submersed in.

People who are categorically against government intervention get weird when such an intervention shown to be An Undeniably Good Thing™. In contrast, for such people the idea that libertarianism might have Bad Consequences™ for personal liberties, or even their sacred financial system, isn't entertained.

[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45994854

hacked? LOL! Apple and Google had worked before together, remember Covid contact alerts?

> When we asked Google whether it developed this feature with or without Apple’s involvement, Moriconi confirmed it was not a collab. “We accomplished this through our own implementation,” he tells The Verge.

That they wrote their own implementation does not mean that they reverse-engineered the protocol.

> Under pressure from the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple is being forced to ditch its proprietary peer-to-peer Wi-Fi protocol – Apple Wireless Direct Link (AWDL) – in favor of the industry-standard Wi-Fi Aware, also known as Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN). A quietly published EU interoperability roadmap mandates Apple support Wi-Fi Aware 4.0 in iOS 19 and v5.0,1 thereafter, essentially forcing AWDL into retirement. This post investigates how we got here (from Wi-Fi Direct to AWDL to Wi-Fi Aware), what makes Wi-Fi Aware technically superior, and why this shift unlocks true cross-platform peer-to-peer connectivity for developers.

Apple cant do anything without angering EU.

Apple can’t do anything <to entrench its monopoly> without angering EU.

Ironically one of Apple’s biggest selling points in the last 4-5 years of iPhone releases, the switch to USB-C, was pretty much forced by the EU.

So far it appears Apple benefits more than it’s hurt by the EU’s anti-monopolistic decisions.

> the switch to USB-C, was pretty much forced by the EU.

Apple went all-in on USB-C/Thunderbolt for the Mac in 2016. The iPad Pro got USB-C in 2018.

Apple had been involved with USB for a long time. The original iMac (1998) was notable for dropping ADB (which Apple had used since 1986) for USB. Apple was also part of the USB-C forum, and rolled out Lightning in 2012 with the iPhone 5, rather than waiting for USB-C (2014).

Apple promised 10 years of support for Lightning, commensurate with its predecessor, the 30-pin iPod/iPhone connector which Apple introduced in 2003. This support was important for customers as well as accessory makers.