Apple Fined Another €5 Million Over Dating Apps as Dutch Regulators Say Apple Has 'Refused to Put Forward Any Serious Proposals'

[AppliedMicro]

Do stores in the EU have to sell everything?

Normal stores in competitive?
No, of course not.

„Gatekeepers“ with duopoly-like market share and lack of competition?
Yes, they regularly are regulated in what they can or must sell. And to whom.
Just ask telcos, power companies, postal and public transit operators…

Smartphone apps and their ecosystems are - admittedly - somewhat special in how they used to be (and very much still are) unregulated markets created by private companies without having required any government license. But they’ll likely won‘t stay that unregulated for long.

But they only picked Dating Apps for this new rule for Apple to follow

This is of course just a first step. A stepping stone, upon which other categories of apps and other countries can step upon.

 

[coolfactor]

To answer ghe question: no, it’s not. The ACM said so.

There‘s no need at all to require new apps. Apple is just coming and making up more and more new „fees“, „requirements“, hoops to jump through, every time.

Do they have to? No. Compliance would be very simple.
Then again, they want to make it as hard and expensive for these developers as they can (at least below their 30% commission threshold) - cause it serves their bottom line.

Yes.

And once one or two big corporations own too much land, they’ll be using that power and share of the land. And as counteraction people, regulators and legislators will call for regulation, if not breaking them up.

To have apps that have different features in different regional areas does require separate binaries.This makes sense. There's no additional fees associated with this, as you've suggested.

Secondly, Apple is not trying to make it difficult. They are trying to design a system that can be monitored and audited. The App Store is not a "free-for-all" marketplace where there's no rules and regulations. We all knows what happens when there's no rules... humans abuse it. This is the battle that Apple is keeping at bay. A well-protected space for consumers to find and install vetted apps that are safe to use.

 

[3gfisch]

You write the € at the end like you speak it in EU… „fine of 5 million €“

 

[Thebrochure]

Apple should just threaten to remove all of its products from said country and see who blinks first.

 

[vipergts2207]

€50 million is about US$57 million as of the writing of this post. Not a big deal for a company with annual operating cash flow of $104 billion and $35 billion of cash holdings. Apple probably will let the fine max out and take its time seeking a legislative solution. Plus with US interest rates set to rise over the short to middle term, Apple could even earn an increasing sum on a $57 million cash set aside while it waits for the Dutch government to do something. Further, eventually paying a Euro-denominated fine could give Apple some US tax savings because it can avoid repatriating $57 million from the Euro-zone. Crazy.

Considering that’s for a single category of apps in a single country, that’s actually quite a sum. Imagine if Apple were hit with similar fines across multiple app categories and countries. They’d be paying out billions in fines.

 

[Doomtomb]

Don't worry, the lawyers are working on this one.

 

[erikkfi]

Someday when the history of EU regulation over Apple’s mobile app marketplace is written, I hope these arrogant tactics get their share of the credit for pushing regulators to stronger positions with fewer loopholes and carve-outs.

 

[huge_apple_fangirl]

„Gatekeepers“ with duopoly-like market share and lack of competition?
Yes, they regularly are regulated in what they can or must sell. And to whom.
Just ask telcos, power companies, postal and public transit operators…

Apple is not a duopoly. They compete with Samsung, BBK, Xiaomi, Huawe, etc.

 

[I7guy]

In their wet dreams maybe...?

Do cite where they don’t.

 

[I7guy]

To answer ghe question: no, it’s not. The ACM said so.

There‘s no need at all to require new apps. Apple is just coming and making up more and more new „fees“, „requirements“, hoops to jump through, every time.

Do they have to? No. Compliance would be very simple.
Then again, they want to make it as hard and expensive for these developers as they can (at least below their 30% commission threshold) - cause it serves their bottom line.

Worst form of micro-management. Don’t blame apple for fighting stupidity.

Yes.

And once one or two big corporations own too much land, they’ll be using that power and share of the land. And as counteraction people, regulators and legislators will call for regulation, if not breaking them up.

Remember your land can be appropriated next.

 

[trusso]

What astounds me are the bootlickers who somehow can't see the similarities between organizations running afoul of Apple's policies, and Apple running afoul of nation-state policies.

Like, guys, if you're such a stickler for following the rules, make sure you're calling Apple on it, too. You can't have it both ways.

 

[maternidad]

What astounds me are the bootlickers who somehow can't see the similarities between organizations running afoul of Apple's policies, and Apple running afoul of nation-state policies.

Like, guys, if you're such a stickler for following the rules, make sure you're calling Apple on it, too. You can't have it both ways.

The meaning of that a set of rules should be followed is not that all rules should be followed :=); there's no conflict.

 

[ajfahey]

Big government versus big corporation game of chicken. Given that government has guns and corporations don’t, I’m taking Apple’s side. They’re the “little guy” here.

 

[vipergts2207]

Apple is not a duopoly. They compete with Samsung, BBK, Xiaomi, Huawe, etc.

They compete with those companies in handsets, not mobile OS platforms.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Ash tray money brah

But it’s a needless expense.

This is now the 3rd or 4th fine I think, money is beginning to get costly.

Apple either remove all dating apps from the region site the web can work or get a stop to these fines.

Dating apps are not a need for most people and there can be a lot of poor experiences for many participates of dates sourced from dating apps.

 

[nastysailboat]

Does Apple even remember this anymore?

Lol it’s like Apple’s equivalent to forgetting to cancel a streaming service bill.

 

[vipergts2207]

Worst form of micro-management. Don’t blame apple for fighting stupidity.

Remember your land can be appropriated next.

If me and one other person own all the land, it should be appropriated. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live in a world where two people own all the land and everyone else are just serfs.

 

[nastysailboat]

They compete with those companies in handsets, not mobile OS platforms.

They compete with them in OS too. If you didn’t like iOS you could switch.

 

[abhibeckert]

€50 million is about US$57 million as of the writing of this post. Not a big deal for a company with annual operating cash flow of $104 billion and $35 billion of cash holdings.

The vast majority of that money doesn't come from Apple's share of dating app revenue within the Netherlands. For that tiny slice of Apple's income, €50 million is a lot of money.

 

[abhibeckert]

You write the € at the end like you speak it in EU… „fine of 5 million €“

No - according to the official EU style guide, when the euro symbol is used in english writing, the correct position for the symbol is before the number - as in "fine of €5 million".

If you want to write it like you speak it, then you don't use the symbol at all. It's "fine of 5 million euros".

(also, the lower quotation mark is never used when writing in english. Upper quotes are always used)

 

[vipergts2207]

They compete with them in OS too. If you didn’t like iOS you could switch.

No because they don’t have an OS they’re competing with, they have Google’s Android. Same choices devs have to develop for iOS and Android. They don’t develop for Xiaomi, Samsung, etc.

 

[abhibeckert]

Apple is not a duopoly. They compete with Samsung, BBK, Xiaomi, Huawe, etc.

That's irrelevant. As it says in this press release "We have established that Apple is a company with a dominant position. That comes with extra responsibilities".

Regardless of how many phone manufacturers there are, Apple is dominant. That's all that matters legally.

 

[BaldiMac]

No because they don’t have an OS they’re competing with, they have Google’s Android. Same choices devs have to develop for iOS and Android. They don’t develop for Xiaomi, Samsung, etc.

Nope. Android is open source. Each manufacturer creates their own android OS. Google Android only ships on Google devices.

 

[nastysailboat]

No because they don’t have an OS they’re competing with, they have Google’s Android. Same choices devs have to develop for iOS and Android. They don’t develop for Xiaomi, Samsung, etc.

Is Google’s Android not an OS. Plus a lot of android phones have their own version of Android. Samsungs Android os is different from Google’s

 

[huge_apple_fangirl]

They compete with those companies in handsets, not mobile OS platforms.

Apple’s OS is not a product. It is a feature of their phones. Apple has iOS and A chips, Samsung has S-pen, Pixel has… I don’t know, AI? Point is that iOS is not a market/platform/product. It is a feature Apple uses to make the iPhone more competitive. Same as anything else.