The European Union will apply key market fairness and competition rules to Apple's iPadOS, the European Commission announced today. This expands the number of Apple-owned platforms regulated under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) to four, increasing regulatory risks for the tech giant. Take a look at the tablet ecosystem.
Apple has six months to ensure iPadOS is DMA compliant.
This development marks a significant change to how its tablet platform operates in the EU, as Apple must ensure compliance with a series of DMA obligations, including a ban on so-called “gatekeepers” who can choose their own favorites. may be forced to. Services and requirements to allow support for third-party app stores, app sideloading, and third-party payment options.
Apple must also open up access to non-WebKit versions of Safari to iPadOS within the next six months, as it has already done for iOS with a separate DMA compliance step. On the other hand, business users who contact customers via tablet platforms have a legal right to FRAND (fair, reasonable, non-discriminatory) terms.
Last fall, the commission designated Apple's mobile platform iOS, App Store, and Safari browser as subject to a series of preliminary DMA do's and don'ts, including strict regulations for violations. Penalties include (up to 10% of global annual turnover, even higher for repeat offenses).
Since then, Apple has announced a series of changes to how its platform operates in the region. However, some aspects of the DMA response have already been subject to formal investigations for alleged violations. The commission launched the first wave of formal DMA investigations last month.
Apple's tablet OS was not included in the EU's initial DMA designation last year because the number of users did not meet the criteria. But the regulation also gave the commission scope to consider qualitative criteria, on which the tech giants hold a strong and enduring position. That's what happened here.
The commission released the results of a market study showing that business users of iPadOS are over 11 times the baseline, while the number of end users is “approaching” the baseline and is expected to increase in the near future. announced that it had been found.
The study also found that both end users and business users are “locked in” to using iPadOS. “Apple is leveraging its large ecosystem to prevent end users from switching to other operating systems for their tablets,” the paper wrote. “Business users are stuck with iPadOS because it has a large, commercially attractive user base and is important for certain use cases such as gaming apps.”
“[D]Despite not meeting the quantitative thresholds set by the DMA; [iPadOS] “They constitute a critical gateway for business users to reach end users and should therefore be designated as gatekeepers,” the commission added.
Apple issued an emailed statement regarding the iPadOS designation. “We continue to engage constructively with the European Commission to ensure compliance with the DMA across all specified services. “We remain focused on providing the best products and services to our customers,” the company wrote.
The commission had 12 months to conduct a market study of iPadOS. Assuming that the review began immediately after announcing the initial DMA designation, it would have taken the EU approximately eight months to complete this qualitative study on tablet platforms. The European Commission confirmed that this is the first and so far only market investigation since the DMA's inception.
In a previous decision dating back to February, the EU decided not to designate Apple's iMessage as subject to DMA, avoiding the obligation to make the messaging systems interoperable.