When the EU digital market bill comes to the ground, Apple will be forced to open the side load, and Apple will definitely be the affected person of this new bill. Apple meets most of the standards in the bill, so it will be bound by the rules stipulated by DMA. When the EU Digital Market Act comes out, Apple may be forced to turn on the side load.
According to reports, the head of the EU antitrust said that the EU's extensive new regulations for Apple and other large technology companies will take effect in early 2023.
The European Union's Digital Market Act (DMA) may force Apple to make major changes to applications such as App Store, Messages, FaceTime, third-party browsers and Siri in Europe. It may force users to install third-party app stores and side-mounted apps, so that developers can interact closely with Apple's own services, promote their products outside the app store, use third-party payment systems, and access data collected by Apple.
For Apple, the compliance requirements put forward by European and American markets are very important, especially the American market, which is Apple's "base camp". We simply can't choose the attitude of "ignoring" to treat the past.
Interestingly, the punishment for technology giants such as Apple seems to come more from European and American markets?
However, opening the App-side loading and third-party payment system and applying these changes to platforms including iOS is tantamount to forcing iOS to "change" Android and break the "ecological siege" that Apple has painstakingly planned for many years!
If Apple opens the App in the European market, allows third-party payment systems to intervene in its ecology, and even provides iMessage messaging service, then the American market is no exception.
The EU sent a message to Apple.
Apple Pay's antitrust charges
The European Commission said on the 2nd that it had sent a written statement to Apple detailing how Apple abused its dominant position in the field of mobile payment through Apple Pay. The statement said that in recent years, Apple has been restricting users from using other payment systems on Apple devices on the grounds of protecting users' safety and privacy, and said that this anti-competitive behavior of Apple can be traced back to at least 20 15.
According to the European Commission, there are signs that Apple has set up obstacles to restrict third-party application developers from obtaining the key technology they need when users use Apple Pay through Apple devices, namely NFC contactless payment technology.
According to Reuters, if this accusation is established, Apple will face a huge fine of 10% of its global annual turnover, which is estimated to be about $36.6 billion (about RMB 241864 million) according to the turnover data of the last fiscal year. However, Reuters's report also pointed out that EU's related penalties are rarely implemented according to the upper-limit penalty standard. Apple said that it will continue to contact the European Commission on this issue.
It is reported that the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission reached an agreement on the Digital Market Act in March this year, aiming at restricting technology giants such as Google, Apple and Amazon. If the relevant enterprises violate the Digital Market Law, they will face a fine of up to 65,438+00% of the global annual turnover in the last fiscal year, and a fine of up to 20% for repeat offenders.
According to media reports quoted by Cailian, Apple said in response to the investigation involving Apple Pay in the European Union that the company designed Apple Pay to provide consumers with safe and convenient contactless payment services by using existing bank cards. Apple Pay is just one of many options that European consumers can use to pay. While ensuring that different types of financial institutions use NFC equally, it sets industry-leading privacy and security standards.
Apple also "pointed out" Apple Pay, which may make some big European banks feel uncomfortable. Because the company has access to 2,500 banks in Europe, in addition to large financial institutions, many small financial technology companies and challenger banks can also access Apple Pay equally.
In addition, the interface news quoted the technology media The Verge 3 as saying on March 26th that for the Digital Market Act (DMA) in which the EU reached an interim agreement, Apple said that the provisions of the Act may bring unnecessary privacy and security loopholes to users. In addition, Apple also said that some provisions will prevent Apple from charging for intellectual property rights.
Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, criticized the digital market law earlier this month, saying the policy would allow companies seeking data to track users around Apple's privacy rules.
According to the Reuters report quoted by Interface News, Margrethe Vestager, director of the EU Anti-Monopoly Bureau, responded at a news conference that so far, the investigation has not found any evidence that there is such a high security risk. "On the contrary, the evidence in our documents shows that Apple's behavior cannot be based on security issues."
Apple can ask for a closed-door hearing to defend the case, or it can issue a written reply before the Committee makes a decision, which may take a year or more.
For example, in 20 16, the European Union punished Apple for paying back the tax of1300 million euros, and the relevant litigation has not yet ended. In the process, Apple even won a favorable ruling from the European Court of Justice.
Like American Internet giants such as Google, the EU's antitrust investigation against Apple is not unique. In addition to Apple Pay, the European Union also accused Apple Music of abusing its dominant market position to hinder competition last year. At the same time, Apple has also been censored by global regulators because of the "Apple tax"-for a long time, users have to charge 30% of the application fees from the App Store.
The EU's digital market bill will be implemented, and Apple may be forced to open the side load. Margaret Vestag, head of EU antitrust, said that the new EU digital market regulations for Apple and other large technology companies will take effect in early 2023.
The European Union's Digital Market Act (DMA) may force Apple to make major changes to App Store, Messages, FaceTime, third-party browsers and Siri in Europe. For example, it may force users to install third-party app stores and third-party apps so that developers can interact closely with Apple's own services, promote their products outside the app store, use third-party payment systems, and access data collected by Apple.
One of the latest features of DMA is that message, voice call and video call services should be interoperable. In theory, interoperability rules mean that metaapplications such as WhatsApp or Messenger can request interoperability with Apple's iMessage framework, and Apple will be forced to comply.
In a speech at the International Competition Network Conference held in Berlin, Vestag said that DMA "will take effect next spring, and once we receive the first notice, we will be ready to implement it." DMA was originally scheduled to take effect in June 2022, which indicates that the preparation of new legislation has been slightly delayed. Westergue also mentioned that the first enforcement may be carried out soon after the introduction of the regulations.
Apple will definitely be affected by this new bill, because its annual turnover in the EU is large enough, and it owns and operates a platform with a large number of active users. Apple meets most of the standards in the bill, so it will be bound by the rules stipulated by DMA.
According to DMA regulations, companies that ignore the rules will face a fine of 65,438+00% of the company's global annual turnover. If they violate it many times, they will face a fine of 20% and a regular fine of 5% of the company's global annual turnover.
According to MacRumors, Margaret Vestag, the head of EU antitrust, said that a wide range of new EU regulations for Apple and other large technology companies will take effect in early 2023.
The European Union's Digital Market Act (DMA) may force Apple to make major changes to App Store, Messages, FaceTime, third-party browsers and Siri in Europe. For example, it may force users to install third-party app stores and side-mounted apps, so that developers can interact closely with Apple's own services, promote their products outside the app store, use third-party payment systems, and access data collected by Apple.
One of the latest features of DMA is that message, voice call and video call services should be interoperable. In theory, interoperability rules mean that metaapplications such as WhatsApp or Messenger can request interoperability with Apple's iMessage framework, and Apple will be forced to comply.
In a speech at the International Competition Network Conference held in Berlin, Vestag said that DMA "will take effect next spring, and once we receive the first notice, we will be ready to implement it." DMA was originally scheduled to take effect in June 2022, which indicates that the preparation of new legislation has been slightly delayed. Vestag also mentioned that the first implementation may be carried out soon after the promulgation of the regulations, and discussed the ongoing preparations in the EU:
"The next chapter is exciting. This means a lot of specific preparations. According to relevant experience, this is about establishing a new structure and pooling resources within the committee ..... this is about hiring employees. This is about preparing the IT system. This is a further legal text on drafting relevant procedures or notification forms. Our team is currently busy with all these preparations, and our goal is to launch a new structure as soon as possible. "
European Union lawmakers provisionally approved DMA in March. This legislation must be finally approved by the European Parliament and the European Council before it can take effect. Large technology companies that meet the criteria for being designated as gatekeepers must declare their identity to the European Commission within three months after the regulations take effect, and the EU has two months to confirm the designation of gatekeepers, which means that it may take some time for companies to face compulsory measures.
Apple will almost certainly be classified as a "gatekeeper" because of its annual turnover in the EU, owning and operating a platform with a large number of active users, and because as long as it meets these standards, it will be bound by the rules stipulated by DMA.
Outside the European Union, Apple's ecosystem is increasingly under strict scrutiny by governments around the world (including the United States, Britain, Japan, South Korea, etc.). ), and global regulators are obviously interested in exploring the requirements and interoperability of application-side loading. Vestag said that as part of the preparatory work for DMA, a lot of cooperation has been carried out, and urged competition authorities around the world to cooperate closely:
"In the next chapter, close cooperation with competition agencies inside and outside the EU is crucial. This has nothing to do with whether they use traditional law enforcement tools or develop their own specific supervision tools (such as digital supervision in Germany). Close cooperation will be necessary, because we will not lack jobs, and we will not lack new services or practices to study. The efforts that need to be made on a global scale are enormous. Therefore, we will need to work together more than ever before.
Many of you will watch the introduction of DMA with great interest. This will be a learning experience. The EU has been trying to find the right balance, and I think we have put forward some difficult but very fair methods. Undoubtedly, as an international competitive community, the more we can coordinate our methods, the less opportunities for global technology giants to take advantage of the law enforcement gap between our jurisdictions. "
DMA said that janitors who ignore the rules will face a fine of 65,438+00% of the company's global annual turnover, and if they violate it many times, they will face a fine of 20% and a regular fine of 5% of the company's global annual turnover. If the gatekeeper commits "systematic infringement", the European Commission will be able to impose additional sanctions, such as forcing the gatekeeper to sell the enterprise or part of it, including units, assets, intellectual property rights or brands, or prohibiting the gatekeeper from acquiring any company that provides services in the digital field.
So far, Apple has strongly resisted the government's attempt to force changes to its operating system and services. For example, Apple only chose to pay a fine of $5.5 million per week for 65,438+00 weeks in the Netherlands, instead of obeying the order of the Consumer and Market Authority (ACM) to allow the use of third-party payment systems in Dutch dating applications. Earlier this week, ACM announced that Apple's supervision of dating applications in the Netherlands is still insufficient.