Anyone care to speculate as to whether Apple will take that opportunity to permit users in other regions that same liberty? Personally, I would not bet on that outcome without similar legislation forcing the issue.

No chance of Apple implementing this outside of the EU if they are not forced to.

They are getting billions from Google every year because Safari is the most used browser on iOS, and they will do what is necessary to make this last for as long as possible.

Chrome for iOS switching to Blink from WebKit will have next to zero effect on Safari’s share of iOS browsing.

Only if you assume that the change will not cause people to switch from Safari to alternative browsers, eg Chrome.

Over time it will, but not at the speed we saw Chrome take over on desktop back in the days.

They probably will. Google "Brussels Effect"

I can see how that applies for hardware manufacturers that don't want to build multiple versions of their products; however, software can easily be region locked using a simple flag without the same economic consequences.

The issue with that is the resulting negative PR. And of course other countries are taking notes and sometimes use EU regulations for inspiration.

Most people don’t give a shit about 3rd party app stores. I doubt 90% of iPhone users even know this is happening. (I say this as an iPhone user myself). So, I’m not sure negative PR is that much of a motivator.

Note this already happened with some software, e.g. Windows EU editions excluding Windows Media Player.

I will just ask somebody to purchase iphone from Eu.

You might also need an EU iCloud account and an EU SIM.

There are many ways Apple could region lock it and the source of the iPhone would probably the least likely.