When companies like Apple put blame on EU regulations, it's worth keeping in mind that they're usually lying. See Microsoft's response to the Crowdstrike incident, and Apple's petulant behavior in regards to the DMA over the past year or so. It's safe to assume that this is just their way of pushing their anti-DMA agenda until proven otherwise.
> We're on the way to turn into another South Korea, with their shitty local apps for everything and banks that still required Active X controls and Internet Explorer in the early 2020s.
It's funny that you bring up banking. Today marks the 10th anniversary of the day when SEPA became available in all EU countries. We figured out a universal low/no fee payment system far earlier and better than the US did - I'm not up to date - is it actually figured out yet?
Additionally, the EU is home to numerous fintech startups like N26, Revolut, Monzo, TransferWise, etc. that brought innovative features like even quicker person to person payments (just send money to their phone number in the app), disposable cards for online shopping, and cheap transfers across continents (especially TransferWise). Many of these features are now being implemented by established banks and this is frankly a poor example of EU regulations that supposedly block innovation.
I've read the GDPR, DMA, and the EU AI act and I'm familiar with them at a high level. My position is that any product or service that doesn't comply with the these regulations shouldn't be available in the EU, the spirit of these regulations is sound and ensures that we have keep some semblance of freedom and sovereignty in the future.
I think you're being alarmist and conflating predatory business practices with "innovation". They're orthogonal, and we don't have to accept invasion of privacy, exploitative business models, and unaccountable AI black boxes that decide our fate, in exchange for temporary shiny new toys.