34 organizations say Apple is ‘making a mockery’ of new digital services rules

A group of 34 companies or professional associations have condemned the measures announced by Apple to comply with new strengthened competition rules in the European Union (EU) from Thursday in a letter to the European Commission on Friday March 1. Signatories include music streaming services Deezer and Spotify, the France Digital Start-Up Association, the European FinTech Association EFA (Financial Technologies) and the European Association of Newspaper Publishers Enpa.

“We are very concerned that Apple’s proposed plan to comply with the Digital Market Regulation (DMA) (…) will not meet the requirements of this law”, wrote these groups from several European countries. His letter is addressed to Thierry Breton and Margrethe Vestager, the European commissioners responsible for the new law.

An opening for competing app stores?

Apple, along with five other digital giants – Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Meta (Facebook, Instagram), Microsoft and ByteDance (TikTok) – have until March 7 to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). This new regulation on digital markets intends to end the abuse of the dominant position of which they are accused, and imposes on them a series of obligations and restrictions under the penalty of heavy fines.

Openly hostile to DMA, Apple on January 25 announced several changes to its iOS operating system, which powers its popular iPhone phones. The Apple brand claims, for example, that it will authorize app stores that compete with its App Store and that it will be open to contactless payment services other than its Apple Pay solution, because it has barriers. “Apple’s new terms not only ignore the spirit and letter of the law, but if upheld, they make a mockery of the DMA”However, an estimated 34 institutions are on their list.