Apple DMA action update: Has Europe blinked?
Europe is going to deny it, but it currently looks as if Apple CEO, Tim Cook’s decision to work with the Trump administration is paying dividends, as it looks as if the company will face ‘minimal fines’ as the EU continues to use regulation to attack the leading tech company.
A Financial Times report this morning claims that while Apple will face fines and must expect to be told what to do by regulators who really shouldn’t make decisions about what tech does, the threat of eye-watering fines is at least receding. Which is something, I suppose.
The Digital Markets Act
That doesn’t mean Apple is safe from action. Europe will apply its Digital Markets Act which it believes will open up the sector to competition. I’m hesitant to believe that – I really feel that the changes Europe is demanding will also impact people’s privacy and security, and mean Europeans will find that over time they devices that they use just won’t do as much.
While I think a few people who already have millions to spend will probably make even more millions, most of us will just find that apps, devices, and services get more expensive, and the experience becomes less private and secure.
But I guess that’s progress these days. The global political class appears to be deeply committed to the process of getting every significant question wrong, choosing the most negative outcome and then justifying this by saying there are no easy answers.
Europe has decided that aspects of Apple’s handling of demands being made upon it under the DMA are incorrect and is expected to order Apple to change. That order had been expected earlier this month but now seems set for next week. Apple will also be fined, but those fines will now be ‘minimal’, rather than at the top end of what the EIU can demand under the law it made, which is 10% of global sales.
Has Europe blinked?
It is thought that Europe has elected to levy lower than anticipated fines because it fears further reprisals from the Trump administration, which Cook has complained about EU fines to in the past. What’s a little ironic here is that Cook has always argued that it is better to speak with people whose views you disagree with in order to find common ground.
“I feel very strongly about engaging with people regardless of whether they agree with you or not,” Cook once told GQ. “I actually think it’s even more important to engage when there’s disagreement.”
When it comes to the incumbent US President, that seems to be what he has done, to what currently seems to be a good outcome for Apple. What’s ironic is that the US currently appears to have become increasingly isolationist in its approach – even though it is tangibly obvious that the nest way to resolve differences is to stop hostility and just try to talk them through. Cook’s no stranger to it,
“Embracing conflict to improve the odds of success has been in Cook’s DNA since he first rebuilt Apple’s operations from 2000-2010,” analyst Gene Munster said.
Meanwhile in Europe, Apple’s profits at its Irish subsidiary increased over 60%.
You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky, LinkedIn, and Mastodon.
