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Apple has been given until June 22 to bring the App Store into full compliance with the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) or face recurring financial penalties following a €500 million fine imposed in April.

App-Store-vs-EU-Feature-2.jpg

The European Commission yesterday published its complete 67-page ruling outlining Apple's violations of the DMA's anti-steering provisions. The Commission concluded that Apple's business terms continue to restrict developers' ability to inform users about alternative payment methods outside the App Store and to facilitate transactions through external platforms.

The Commission determined that Apple's remaining restrictions contravene Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) 2022/1925, which mandates that designated gatekeepers must allow app developers to communicate freely with their users and offer competing payment systems without being subject to unfair conditionsg or excessive fees.

The Digital Markets Act came into force in November 2022 and became applicable to designated gatekeepers in 2023. It prohibits platform owners like Apple from using its market position to impose anti-competitive limitations on how developers operate within or outside their ecosystems. The law explicitly requires that gatekeepers enable developers to inform users about more favorable offers available outside the gatekeeper's platform, to include links to external payment methods, and to do so free of charge.

Apple previously argued that its newly introduced business terms, which allow developers to add one external link per app to direct users to their own websites, met the DMA's requirements. Under these rules, developers are required to follow a standardized Apple-designed flow, which includes an interstitial warning screen that appears before users are redirected to external sites. In addition, Apple prohibits developers from pre-filling user-specific data such as login credentials or purchase details into the URL used for redirection.

Despite these changes, the Commission found that Apple's implementation falls significantly short of the law's intent and legal requirements. According to the ruling, developers are still unable to promote alternative payment systems within their apps in a meaningful way, and the structure imposed by Apple continues to create friction and discourage user redirection. Furthermore, Apple still imposes a 27% commission on any digital purchases made through external websites linked from within an app, which is only slightly lower than the 30% standard in-app purchase commission and allegedly undermines the concept of allowing free steering.

The Commission rejected Apple's interpretation of the DMA, in which the company claimed it was only required to "allow" steering, not to "facilitate" it. In its ruling, the Commission said that Apple's technical and procedural barriers had the effect of discouraging developers from directing users to external purchasing options and therefore violated the law. It added that Apple had "not put forward any convincing arguments calling into question the serious gravity of the non-compliance." The ruling also criticized Apple's claim that its measures were designed to protect user security and privacy.

In a statement provided to 9to5Mac following the publication of the full ruling, Apple said:
There is nothing in the 70-page decision released today that justifies the European Commission's targeted actions against Apple, which threaten the privacy and security of our users in Europe and force us to give away our technology for free. Their decision and unprecedented fine came after the Commission continuously moved the goalposts on compliance, and repeatedly blocked Apple's months-long efforts to implement a new solution. The decision is bad for innovation, bad for competition, bad for our products, and bad for users. While we appeal, we'll continue engaging with the Commission to advocate on behalf of our European customers.

Apple has until June 22 to rectify the issues or face "periodic penalty payments." These ongoing fines would be determined based on the seriousness of the infringement and the company's revenue. Apple must also pay the initial €500 million fine by July 23 or begin accruing interest.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple Ordered to Change App Store in Europe Again
 
Did it mention sideloading as well? I don't give a **** about "alternative app stores" that are still censored by Apple.

[Reminder: just because they approved a porn app that doesn't mean they're not censoring, for example, apps that compete with Apple services.]

The legislation isn't about sideloading. But about steering from developers.
 
Did it mention sideloading as well? I don't give a **** about "alternative app stores" that are still censored by Apple.

[Reminder: just because they approved a porn app that doesn't mean they're not censoring, for example, apps that compete with Apple services.]
Holy cow somebody else gets it, I thought I was losing my mind

Forget the alternative AppStore nonsense I just want to sideload a damn IPA
 
Never give them an inch Apple!
I mean, they’ll just keep ratcheting the fees, until Apple has to pull their products. They have no leg to stand on.

Apple is being monopolistic on their platform. Monopolies lead to higher prices. The EU is fighting to increase price competition.

Also, this whole trade war thing isn’t going to make Europe more likely to back down.
 
It’s time for Apple to read the room and to realise that want they want for the App Store is now not au fait with how many governments and trading blocs view fair competition.

They can’t keep on skimming in this way - and that’s what it is - forever more.

I think they’re being very foolish in persisting in this as they’re burning a huge amount of bridges - both with govts and with developers.

Particularly as the smartphone era is starting to wane as we enter the AI era and Apple are more strategically weak than they have been since the 00s - even if this is not yet apparent.
 
It’s time for Apple to read the room and to realise that want they want for the App Store is now not au fait with how many governments and trading blocs view fair competition.

They can’t keep on skimming in this way - and that’s what it is - forever more.

I think they’re being very foolish in persisting in this as they’re burning a huge amount of bridges - both with govts and with developers.

Particularly as the smartphone era is starting to wane as we enter the AI era and Apple are more strategically weak than they have been since the 00s - even if this is not yet apparent.
So, how is Apple supposed to monetize their investment and support ? Or are developers supposed to get everything for free? (And $99 is basically free)
 
At this point Apple should just leave the EU.

..are they going to leave Japan, and Brazil, and soonish India, as they are all requiring the same open App-store and alt app-store options as the EU?

So, how is Apple supposed to monetize their investment and support ? Or are developers supposed to get everything for free? (And $99 is basically free)

Maybe they can use the ill-gotten $20 billion a year they get, for free, from Google.
 
I don't think anyone is surprised by this. The EU is operating in such bad faith of course they were going to fine Apple.

Remember EU defenders, Apple proposed a "fix" to comply with this mess of a law in August and then the EU told explicitly told Apple to hold off on implementing it, and then cite the fact that its not fixed as a reason to fine Apple. This fact has been reported by multiple news outlets and the Commission hasn't denied it.

The EU has simply determined that Apple's IP belongs to developers, not Apple. Sure they say they believe in the free market, but this is the state "nationalizing" Apple's property.
 
So, how is Apple supposed to monetize their investment and support ? Or are developers supposed to get everything for free? (And $99 is basically free)
By selling $2,000 devices with a 45% profit margin. And by selling services.

SDKs have been given away for free for all platforms for decades. Because it has long been understood that applications sell devices, not the other way around. There is nothing Apple would be giving away "for free", even if they dropped the yearly dev fee to $0.
 
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