Apple has today lost a major antitrust appeal in Europe, with all three of its claims being rejected.
The company has long been fighting its requirement to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), but a court has dismissed all of its claims …
Your quick primer on Apple and the DMA
The Digital Markets Act is an antitrust law that designates certain tech giants as so-called “gatekeepers.” Effectively, it says they are so powerful that they are able to abuse their dominant position in the market to block smaller players from competing with their own products, and to impose unfair terms on companies essentially forced to partner with them.
Companies designated as gatekeepers are required to take steps to make it easier for other companies to compete with them.
Apple was designated a gatekeeper in respect of both the iOS platform as a whole and the App Store specifically. The reasoning here is that a developer cannot get free access to the app market without creating iOS apps, and Apple has full control over the market for these. Apple had not permitted competing app stores, and so was able to dictate its own terms, which developers were forced to accept.
Additionally, the EU was investigating whether it should also get gatekeeper status for iMessage. Ultimately, it didn’t do so as WhatsApp is the overwhelmingly dominant message platform within Europe, even for iPhone users.
Apple’s appeal rejected
The company appealed its designation as a gatekeeper for all three elements, iOS, the App Store, and iMessage. Although the latter might seem odd since iMessage was not included in the company’s gatekeeper status, Apple likely wanted to try to fend off any future move against its messaging app.
Reuters reports that all of Apple’s arguments have been rejected.
The ruling by the Luxembourg-based General Court will strengthen the position of EU antitrust regulators as they attempt to make space for rivals and give Europeans more choice.
“The General Court dismisses Apple’s actions regarding its designation as a gatekeeper in relation to the App Store and iOS,” the tribunal said. It also said that Apple’s actions regarding the iMessage service are inadmissible.
Apple is likely to appeal the matter to the EU’s equivalent of the Supreme Court, the Court of Justice of the European Union. The company has not yet announced its intention to do so, but has repeated its criticism of the DMA.
“We firmly believe the DMA’s mandate goes beyond what is lawful and proportionate, threatening to erode decades of privacy and security protections we’ve built and leaving our users vulnerable to new risks,” an Apple spokesperson said. “We will continue advocating for the innovation and privacy our European customers deserve.”
9to5Mac’s Take
This ruling was inevitable and I believe that a final appeal will also be unsuccessful. However, Apple has demonstrated its determination to fight all of the way, so I do think an appeal to the Court of Justice will be the next step.
Photo by Colin Lloyd on Unsplash
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