Europe's tech chief Margrethe Vestager on Friday warned iPhone maker Apple against using privacy and security concerns to fend off competition on its App Store, reasons CEO Tim Cook gave for not allowing users to install software from outside the Store. From a report: Vestager, who is also the European Commission's executive vice president, last year proposed rules called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that would force Apple to open up its lucrative App Store so that users can download apps from the internet or third-party app stores in a practice known as side-loading. Cook, speaking at an event last month, said the proposal would destroy the security and privacy of iPhones. read more Vestager said she shares Cook's security concerns. "I think privacy and security is of paramount importance to everyone," Vestager told Reuters in an interview.

"The important thing here is, of course, that it's not a shield against competition, because I think customers will not give up neither security nor privacy if they use another app store or if they sideload," she said. Vestager indicated that she was open to changes in her proposal, which needs input from EU countries and EU lawmakers before it can become law. "I think that it is possible to find solutions to this," she said.

Qualcomm's new chief thinks that by next year his company will have just the chip for laptop makers wondering how they can compete with Apple, which last year introduced laptops using a custom-designed central processor chip that boasts longer battery life. From a report: Longtime processor suppliers Intel and Advanced Micro Devices have no chips as energy efficient as Apple's. Qualcomm Chief Executive Cristiano Amon told Reuters on Thursday he believes his company can have the best chip on the market, with help from a team of chip architects who formerly worked on the Apple chip but now work at Qualcomm. In his first interview since taking the top job at San Diego, California-based Qualcomm, Amon also said the company is also counting on revenue growth from China to power its core smartphone chip business despite political tensions. "We will go big in China," he said, noting that U.S. sanctions on Huawei give Qualcomm an opportunity to generate a lot more revenue.