Apple charged with violating EU antitrust rules, faces another probe

European Union antitrust regulators charged on Monday that Apple breached the bloc’s tech rules, a charge that could result in a hefty fine for the iPhone maker which also faces another investigation into new fees imposed on app developers. The European Commission has until March next year to issue a final decision. DMA violations could result in a fine of as much as 10% of a company’s global annual revenue.
Reuters:
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EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager cited issues with Apple’s new terms, saying that they fell short of complying with the DMA. Apple can avoid a fine if it can address the concerns by modifying its business terms.
She said it was up to Apple to decide how to comply with the DMA and not for her to tell the company what to do.
Apple said it had made a number of changes in the past several months to comply with the DMA after getting feedback from app developers and the Commission.
The Commission said under most of the business terms, Apple allows steering only through ‘link-outs’, meaning that app developers can include a link in their app that redirects the customer to a web page where the customer can conclude a contract.
It also criticized the fees charged by Apple for facilitating via the App Store the initial acquisition of a new customer by developers, saying they went beyond what was strictly necessary for such remuneration.
The EU executive said it was also opening an investigation into the iPhone maker over its new contractual requirements for third-party app developers and app stores and whether these were necessary and proportionate.
At issue is its core technology fee, the multi-step user journey to download and install alternative app stores on iPhones and the eligibility requirements for developers to offer alternative app stores or directly distribute apps from the web on iPhones.

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MacDailyNews Take: No wonder Apple plans to delay launch of Apple Intelligence features in Europe due to over-regulation and red-tape excreting bureaucrat cretins such as Vestager.
The European Union arose because the Europeans couldn’t compete on their own with the rest of the world, so they each lined up to surrender their national sovereignty, unique cultures, and dignity for an undemocratic, opaque, wasteful, bloated, bureaucratic quasi-governmental blob – and, even with the EU’s thumbs all over the scale, they still can’t compete. – MacDailyNews, March 4, 2024
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