Apple has filed an appeal against the European Union’s ruling forcing the company to make changes to its App Store. For the company, the bloc’s lawmakers were wrong not to consider that the app stores for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Watch are different.
The information is from the Reuters news agency. According to the report, Apple argues that considering the App Store as a single store is a “material factual error.”
The European Union has classified the App Store as an “essential platform service.” This is a term created by the Digital Markets Act (DMA) to designate services necessary for companies to access consumers, in this case, app developers reaching smartphone owners, for example.
Since the App Store has been considered an essential platform service, Apple needs to fulfill certain obligations, aiming not to favor its own store. These include opening up operating systems to independent stores and allowing developers to use alternative payment options for in-app transactions.
In addition to Apple, the European Union has deemed Alphabet (Google), Amazon, ByteDance (TikTok), Meta (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) and Microsoft to be “gatekeepers” companies that have control over essential platform services. Meta and ByteDance have also appealed against the designations.
iMessage is also a cause for complaint from Apple
The European Union is also investigating whether iMessage should be considered an essential platform service. The European Commission classifies the messenger as a “number-independent interpersonal communication service”. This forces Apple to adopt interoperability with other services, such as WhatsApp, for example.
According to Reuters, Apple disagrees. The company considers that iMessage should not receive this rating, as it is not charged or monetized for selling hardware or personal data.
In a financial report, the company admits that it will need to make changes to its business to comply with new legislation. The European Union’s rules come into force on March 6. If the features aren’t judged by then, we should see news in Apple’s services.
