Apple to challenge EU’s latest Big Tech crackdown

Apple will challenge the European Union’s latest Big Tech crackdown in the first of what is expected to be several appeals against the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Samuel Stolton and Stephanie Bodoni for Bloomberg News:
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The company will dispute the EU regulator’s decision to put all of the App Store into the bloc’s new digital antitrust list. It’ll argue also its iMessage service shouldn’t be subject to closer scrutiny from regulators, according to people familiar with the matter.

Apple’s appeal is still in draft form and could change before the Nov. 16 deadline to file challenges at the EU’s General Court, the people said who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.

Even with an appeal pending, Apple will still be required to comply with the rules when they take effect on March 6. Apple said in a filing this month that it expects to make changes to the App Store as a result of the bloc’s new rules.

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MacDailyNews Take: It’ll be interesting to see if Apple can prevail at least on some important aspects such as iMessage. As for the App Store:

It’s Apple’s App Store. Of course they have a right to charge commissions.

Apple’s App Store isn’t a charity and it’s not free to operate. – MacDailyNews, November 14, 2022

How much did it cost developers to have their apps burned onto CDs, boxed, shipped, displayed on store shelves prior to Apple remaking the world for the better for umpteenth time? Apple incurs costs to store, review, organize, surface, and distribute apps to over one billion users. — MacDailyNews, June 10, 2022

That said, as we wrote last year:

Those who want safety, security, and privacy will stick to Apple’s App Store, but a single point of control is always a danger, especially when it comes to capricious censorship (see: pre-Musk Twitter, Apple’s App Store in China, etc.).

iPhone and iPad users must, like Mac users, have the ability to install third-party apps; even if they never do, for it will keep Apple honest. The ability to ban an app loses all power when it’s simply available in another App Store.

These moves, including removing the mandate to use WebKit, Apple’s Safari browsing engine, in third-party browsers ,will greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the threat of anti-trust actions against Apple for the foreseeable future.

Also, expect Gatekeeper to come to iOS and iPadOS from macOS.

Yes, Apple’s App Store revenue will take a hit, but there are new products for new markets on deck (AR/VR headsets, AR glasses, Apple Car, etc.) that will more than make up for any loss of App Store exclusivity.
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