The EU’s Digital Markets Act recently
forced Apple to open up iOS and the App Store in Europe, and iPadOS will soon need to go through the same treatment. Following an investigation from the EU Commission that started in September, the EU regulator has now determined that iPadOS should be considered as a “gatekeeper” that needs to be regulated, even though the platform doesn’t meet the quantitate thresholds set by the DMA.
In its
press release published today, the EU Commission listed 3 specific reasons why its DMA rules should apply to iPadOS. The first one is that “Apple’s business user numbers exceeded the quantitative threshold elevenfold, while its end user numbers were close to the threshold and are predicted to rise in the near future.”
Additionally, the EU Commission argued “end users are locked-in to iPadOS,” which is pretty much the same walled garden as iOS. The EU regulator also considers that the iPad business userbase is also locked in “because of its large and commercially attractive user base, and its importance for certain use cases, such as gaming apps.”
“On the basis of the findings of the investigation, the Commission concluded that iPadOS constitutes an important gateway for business users to reach end users, and that Apple enjoys an entrenched and durable position with respect to iPadOS,” the EU Commission said today.
Apple now has six months to make iPadOS DMA compliant in the EU, otherwise, the company could be fined as much as 1°% of its global annual revenue. To do that, Apple will need to allow iPad users to uninstall more preinstalled apps, and also allow them to download apps from alternative app stores and the web. The company will also need to authorize third-party browser engines.
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