Apple: EU digital law DMA should be abolished
The DMA, among other things, forces Apple to open up the iPhone and iPad and regulates the company to the smallest detail. Apple no longer wants this.
The European flag and an iPhone with the Apple logo: a dispute that has been simmering for years.
(Image: daily_creativity / Shutterstock.com)
It is widely known that Apple has a problem with the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to regulate technology companies down to the last detail. Most recently, Greg Joswiak, global marketing boss of the iPhone company, was extremely critical: The company no longer wants to accept interference in Apple's products; the EU is “taking the magic” out of the products. Now, for the first time, Apple is even calling for the complete abolition of the DMA, according to a statement to the EU Commission, which is available to the news agency dpa. The DMA does not promote competition but “only new vulnerabilities”.
Alleged “fatal consequences” of the DMA
In a statement from the iPhone company to the EU Commission as part of the “DMA Review,” which is intended to review the regulatory procedure, it states that the EU-wide law has “fatal consequences” and must be repealed. “The European Commission has used the DMA to create a more complicated, less trustworthy practice that brings entirely new dangers to our users,” the company writes in the 25-page statement.
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The commission has “opened the door to fraudsters and malware” and, by forcing alternative app marketplaces and other new distribution channels to open up, has “brought new categories of apps to the iPhone—like Pornografie—that Apple never authorized and that expose children to new risks.” However, it has so far been extremely difficult to bring such alternatives to the App Store to the devices. Large shops such as the Epic Games Store have comparatively low installation figures.
Apple: Samsung is not regulated
Apple also sees a lack of fairness in regulatory practice. In contrast to Apple, Samsung has not been categorized as a so-called gatekeeper, although the South Korean company is the market leader for smartphones in Europe. In addition, the EU Commission had focused almost exclusively on Apple in its enforcement measures. The iPhone company has been targeted five times by the Commission— “more than all other companies combined.”
Decisions against Apple were taken “much more quickly.” “The investigations of other gatekeepers [Apple is referring here to Google, for example, editor's note] are making slow progress, while the Commission is pushing ahead with its campaign to redesign the iPhone.” Apple sees the fine of 500 million euros imposed by the EU Commission in April as an “unprecedented fine for alleged non-compliance with a legal provision.” According to the EU Commission, Apple prevented app developers from pointing users to alternative and possibly more favorable offers outside the Apple App Store.
Functions that are not activated in the EU
Finally, Apple writes that the potential penalties have prompted the company to initially not introduce certain iPhone functions in the EU. This most recently concerns the live translation function of the new AirPods 3. When opening up the system for headphones from other manufacturers, it is essential to prevent them from being able to analyze the content of the calls.
Apple teams are currently working on technical solutions to ensure that content cannot be passed on to other companies or developers. As long as this is not possible, the live translation function will not be released. Other features, such as iPhone mirroring, which Apple recently improved once again, are also not available to EU citizens because Apple is apparently afraid of having to give third-party providers forced remote control access to the iPhone.
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