The EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) came into force in May 2023 targeting big tech companies including Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Google, Bytedance, Meta and Microsoft. The European Commission has designated Apple as gatekeeper for several core platform services, including operating systems (iOS and iPadOS), messaging platform (iMessage) and intermediation (App Store). The EU has now accused Apple of violating the DMA due to its anti-driving policies towards app developers.
Third-party iOS app store AltStore PAL
According to the European Commission’s press release, “Apple does not fully enable guidance,” which prevents developers from reaching iOS customers outside of the App Store. The EU is calling on Apple to allow developers to direct consumers to alternative markets outside the App Store without additional taxes.
We are concerned that Apple has designed its new business model to discourage app developers and end users from taking advantage of the opportunities DMA presents to them. The DMA’s letter is clear: gatekeepers must allow alternative app stores to establish themselves on their platforms; and that consumers are fully informed about the offers available to them. So that they can freely choose where to get their apps from and under what conditions. – Margrethe Vestager (European Commissioner for Competition)
Apple opened iOS and iPadOS to third-party stores in the EU earlier this year, but Cupertino still charges developers a core technology fee of €0.50 per download for apps that receive over 1 million downloads and an additional 3% fee for using Apple’s payment processor.
Apple has until March 2025 to comply with the DMA. Failure to do so will result in a 10% fine on Apple’s global revenue, which would amount to $38 billion (€35.4 billion). Repeated violations will increase the fine up to 20% of global revenue.
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