Apple’s App Store ‘steering’ policies seems to be breaking the EU’s Digital Markets Act, EU regulators explained. On Monday during their preliminary ruling, regulators explained that the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which is meant to encourage competition, is being violated by Apple.
The EU regulators said they are concerned as Apple’s new business model makes it too hard for app developers to operate as alternative marketplaces and reach their end users on iOS.
What went wrong?
On June 2024, “Today we open a new case + we adopt preliminary findings against @Apple under the DMA.
We are concerned Apple’s new business model makes it too hard for app developers to operate as alternative marketplaces & reach their end users on iOS,” Margrethe Vestager posted on X.
Reportedly Steering can be the key to ensure that app developers are less dependent on gatekeepers’ app stores and for consumers to be aware of better offers. It looks like Apple does not fully allow steering, eventually compromising with the regulation. “Our preliminary position is that Apple does not fully allow steering,” Margrethe Vestager who heads up competition policy in Europe, explained, The Verge reported.
In addition to this, the European Commission is expected to have opened a new investigation for Apple’s support for alternative iOS marketplaces in Europe. It looks like the investigation also includes overseeing the core technology fee it charges developers.
According to the EU’s Digital Markets Act, ‘Apple and other so-called gatekeepers must allow app developers to steer consumers to offers outside their app stores free of charge.’ The EU regulators further explained that Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft are the other six gatekeepers who need to be fully compliant with rules as of March 2024.
What’s next
Early reports suggested that Apple had previously been fined €1.84 billion (about $2 billion) by the EU’s antitrust regulators over the App Store’s anti-steering practices in a case that predates the DMA. Reportedly, after Spotify filed an antitrust complaint against Apple in 2020, Apple had to pay a fine for the lawsuit announced.
“Throughout the past several months, Apple has made a number of changes to comply with the DMA in response to feedback from developers and the European Commission,” Peter Ajemian, Apple spokesperson explained in a statement sent to The Verge.
It looks like Apple has time to respond to the European Commission’s preliminary assessment ahead of its final ruling before March 2025. However, Apple could be fined up to 10 percent of its annual global revenue for infringement, or $38 billion based on last year’s numbers. That increases to 20 percent for repeat infringements.
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