Europe to force Apple to help rivals connect to iOS, iPadOS

The European Commission intends to force Apple to open its walled garden.

On Thursday, the EU's executive arm said it initiated "two specification proceedings to assist Apple in complying with its interoperability obligations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA)."

By "assist," the commission means "require" - Apple has done its best to minimize the impact of the competition-fostering DMA on its platforms and has shown no enthusiasm for the commission's efforts to chip away if not blow apart tech monopolies. Apple's attempts to fall in line with the law have been dismissed by rivals as "malicious compliance."

In June, the commission issued preliminary findings that Apple had failed to meet its obligations under the DMA.

The DMA was adopted to promote competition among companies deemed to be digital gatekeepers. The commission said last September that Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta (Facebook), and Microsoft are covered by the law.

Apple's App Store, its iOS operating system, and its Safari web browser were initially designated as core platform services, followed by iPadOS in April 2024. As such, Apple is required to make various technical and business changes to those services to ensure that rivals can compete fairly against them.

It's not yet clear what exactly will be necessary to satisfy the commission, but failure to do so will invite fines of up to 10 percent of annual revenue, or double that for repeat offenders.

The EC's first proceeding involves iOS interoperability, while the second is focused on iPadOS interoperability. Apple has six months to comply.

Article 6(7) of the DMA states that gatekeepers must offer online service and hardware providers free interoperability with hardware, software, and operating system features. It also requires that gatekeepers provide business users and alternative providers of services with similar interoperability.

The law nonetheless allows the gatekeeper to take necessary and proportionate steps to ensure that interoperability does not compromise the integrity of the hardware, software, and operating system.

"We are focused on ensuring fair and open digital markets," said Margrethe Vestager, outgoing EVP in charge of competition policy, in a statement. "Effective interoperability, for example with smartphones and their operating systems, plays an important role in this. This process will provide clarity for developers, third parties and Apple."

The App DB Store, one of the third-party app stores made possible by the DMA, expressed appreciation of the regulatory intervention, noting that Apple tends to ignore interoperability requests and demand payment.

Apple, which doesn't much interoperate with the press, did not respond to a request for comment. ®