Apple files legal challenge over Europe's demand for third-party app stores
Apple has filed its anticipated legal case against the European Commission's Digital Markets Act, and is believed to specifically protest being forced into supporting rivals to its App Store.
The Digital Markets Act was created specifically to target Big Tech firms including Apple, and while certain implementation details are still being worked on, it became applicable from May 2023. It says that companies it defines as "gatekeepers" are now required to make their services interoperable with those of rivals.
Apple has recently been reported to be preparing an appeal specifically against the ruling that it be required to allow rival app stores on its iPhone and other devices.
According to Reuters, that appeal was filed in time for the EU General Court's deadline of November 16, 2023. No details of the filing have been made public as yet.
The Court of Justice of the European Union has tweeted that it has received the filing, however. It subsequently says that "further information will be published in due course" on the Court's website.
@Apple (Cases T-1079/23 & T-1080/23), #Bytedance (#TikTok) (T-1077/23) and #Meta (T-1078/23) have filed cases contesting decisions taken by the @EU_Commission under the #DigitalMarketsAct #DMA #Competition.
-- EU Court of Justice (@EUCourtPress)
As noted in the tweet, Apple is not alone in contesting the implementation of the Digital Markets Act. Facebook parent Meta has also complained, as has TikTok, and its owner Bytedance.
Reuters reports that TikTok has said the "gatekeeper" designation risks helping Big Tech firms against growing rivals. "Far from being a gatekeeper," said TikTok's filing, "our platform, which as been operating in Europe for just over five years, is arguably the most capable challenged to more entrenched platform businesses."
Apple has not commented publicly on its filing.
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Comments
I don't get it.
IMO it's more like the old west mining towns, or coal-mining Kentuckians back in the 1890's and 1930's. Because someone lived or worked in the company-built town, all their purchases of food and supplies could only come from the company store. Any proprietor's stores that dared open might be burned down and the owners run out of town. Workers were kept behind gates or fences with the excuse that they were “protecting” laborers from unscrupulous traveling salesmen.
https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/programs/housing/company-towns-1890s-to-1935
That eventually became illegal of course.
Company towns were not illegal and I did not imply, much less claim they were. Restricting commerce to only the official company stores and lock-in of workers was.
Perhaps then Apple will actually get serious about gaming as well, since Apple Arcade will not hold up against Epic, Steam, GamePass, etc.
A bigger question is how does this impact the Apple eco system. Some say that developers will charge less is they don’t have to pay Apple’s commission. I suspect that most developers will pocket the bulk of the savings.
Large content publishers and distributors like Epic and Spotify will come out ahead while consumers will get a little more freedom and savings. Not sure who else wins. Apple might start charging for major iOS updates or increase developer fees as a way to recoup some of the lost revenue.