A few months later Inauguration In the case on Apple and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) non-compliance, the European Commission has shared its preliminary findings with Apple. And the conclusion is that the current App Store rules are violating the D.M.A.Confirmed violations of the DMA can result in fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover.
“‘Do things differently’ should be their new slogan,” said EU internal market commissioner Thierry Breton. wrote on X. “For too long, Apple has been shutting out innovative companies – depriving consumers of new opportunities and choices.”
In this particular case, the European Commission believes that third-party developers should be able to inform customers about alternative purchase possibilities – also free of charge.
For example, developers who have released apps on the App Store cannot advertise different prices or alternative distribution channels in their apps. Although Apple now allows developers to include a link to their site, the European Commission believes there are too many restrictions with this link-out mechanism.
Even if developers redirect users to their website and handle transactions on their website, they must report the transactions to Apple and pay a commission. Apple only waives the 3% payment processing fee for web purchases.
“Apple has made a number of changes to comply with the DMA in response to feedback from developers and the European Commission,” the company said in a statement shared with the Financial Times. “We are confident that our plan complies with the law, and we estimate that more than 99% of developers will pay the same or lower fees to Apple under the new business terms we’ve created.”
In addition to these initial findings, the European Commission is launching a third non-compliance investigation into Apple’s new contractual terms for EU developers. This time, the Commission is going to focus on Apple’s controversial Core Technology Fee (CTF) and alternative app marketplaces.
European developers can stay on the standard business terms or choose new business terms that allow them to distribute their apps outside of the App Store. However, these new terms lead to a fee of €0.50 per installed app after one million downloads.
The company has already CTF Adjusted So that it does not apply to free non-commercial apps. There is also a three-year transition period for small developers who release a hit app and get more than a million downloads for the first time. But that doesn’t change much in the long term. With this new formal investigation, the EC will determine whether the CTF effectively complies with the DMA.
If you tried to install a third-party app store in the EU, such as Altstore, Setapp Mobile Or AptoideYou might have noticed that it requires quite a lot of taps. You first get an error in your web browser. You have to open the Settings app, accept the app installation from this site, go back to your web browser, download the alternative store again, and accept a popup about the risks associated with third-party app stores. The EC will examine this “multi-step user journey” and its compliance with the DMA rules.
“We are concerned that Apple has designed its new business model to discourage app developers and end users from taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the DMA,” said Margrethe Vestager, the Commission’s EVP in charge of competition policy. a speech,
“The DMA’s letter is clear: gatekeepers must allow alternative app stores to be installed on their platforms; and consumers must have full information about the offers available to them so that they can freely choose where they want to buy their apps from and on what terms,” he added.
According to today’s preliminary findings, Apple can now respond in writing to the European Commission. The final decision is due a year after the formal investigation began, which means Apple can negotiate with the EU and adjust its business terms once again to avoid a hefty fine.
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