Did you know Apple Makes Striking Confession To The EU About Operating Five Different App Stores
iPhone maker Apple is busy with its preparations of trying to enable
third-party app stores to align with the stringent rules and regulations
in the EU region. This came after several questions were raised about
antitrust behavior from the commission.
But while it’s busy
doing that, we’re also seeing it put forth more arguments on why it
shouldn’t be forced to do this in the first place. The latest on this
front has to do with the Cupertino firm refusing to call its App Store
an entire platform or one that shouldn’t be viewed as a separate entity.
This is where the tech giant added how it currently operates five different app stores and that raised even more eyebrows.
For those who aren’t aware, several antitrust regulators have been after
the company and its exclusive control regarding the sales of iPhone
applications belonging to third-party sources. It doesn’t depend on
whether you happen to be a consumer wishing to purchase apps for your
iPhone device or a developer wishing to sell one. There is just a single
place where it could be done and that’s the App Store.
Now the
iPhone maker has full authority and control on which platforms are
allowed on the App Store and the firm is setting its own terms and
conditions for this. For instance, the share of 15 to 30% in the name of
commission goes to the tech giant while developers as well as customers
need to accept just that.
Meanwhile, regulators found in the EU
find that a difficult pill to digest, referring to the action as a
clear-cut violation of competition law.
And that’s exactly where the Digital Markets Act comes into play. It
states in bold terms how the App Store is fully covered by such laws.
Therefore, the iPhone maker must enable competition to arise in the
growing iPhone app market as that’s the only way by which the firm could
abide by the law by enabling third-party arch-rival app stores to enter
the market. Now the deadline outlined for this clause is April of 2024
and the iPhone maker has been working long and hard to meet such
requirements as we speak.
But that is a separate topic
altogether as the major concern that many critics are having is related
to the company confirming its control over five different App Stores.
Remember,
the DMA is a law application to all tech apps and the EU is responsible
for defining which goods and services fall in this domain with the App
Store being at the top of the list. But Cupertino firm argued that it
should not be the case, because it has control over five app stores.
Many were shocked to hear that during a court hearing arising in the EU yesterday as confirmed by media outlet Reuters.
Apple revealed through a plea how the EC has made a big error in
claiming the firm’s five App Stores are a single entity when that’s not
the case as they work independently from each other.
More details
about the argument were revealed including how the tech giant controls
different app stores across all of its devices including phones, Mac
computers, TVs, Watches, and iPads. Therefore, each of those was
designed to provide apps for particular operating systems in line with
the product’s design.
And even more shocking reports are talking
about how the firm’s iMessage feature might just have one of its own
platforms, even though it’s yet to delineate it as one right now.
The summary from Reuters appears as if there is more to the matter and the outline is quite sketchy, so to speak.
Meanwhile,
the firm contended that iMessage does not fall in the domain of the
Digital Markets Act because it’s not a free service for all and
therefore doesn’t generate revenue through the sales of hardware or data
belonging to users.
But seeing the matter of Apple’s app store
being plural instead of singular does not or should not make a huge
difference as the single iPhone App Store is enough to be considered a
platform alone.
Some experts however do believe the company
might succeed in terms of its argument of excluding app stores linked to
other devices.
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