Last month, the United Kingdom’s competition regulator designated Apple and Google as having “strategic market status.” As a result, the two companies will be subject to different regulatory rules, some of which are very similar to Europe’s DMA. Tonight, Apple fired back.
A bit of background
Earlier this year, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened formal investigations into Apple and Google over anticompetitive concerns. In Apple’s case, it was actually the second attempt, since the original probe was dropped a year ago, due to a missed deadline.
This time around, due to their “substantial and entrenched market power,” and “position of strategic significance,” both companies will be subject to follow the Digital Markets, Competiton and Consumers Act (DMCC), which has many similarities to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), especially when it comes to anti-steering provisions, interoperability, and the rules that app developers are subject to.
Apple’s reaction
In today’s response to the UK, as reported by the BBC, Apple resorted to a now familiar talking point, calling the proposed changes “bad for users and bad for developers.”
Apple also reminded regulators that it has delayed the release of new features in Europe in the past due to regulations introduced by the DMA, in a clear signal that it may resort to the same course of action in case regulators move forward.
It’s worth noting that Apple isn’t the only company that has delayed or withheld new features in Europe due to local regulations. Google, Meta, Anthropic, and OpenAI have also recently held back releases in the region over issues related to data policies, some of which remain unavailable.
Specifically related to the interoperability rules, Apple reportedly argued that the UK’s CMA “undermines the privacy and security protections our users have come to expect, hampers our ability to innovate, and forces us to give away our technology for free to foreign competitors.”
Apple also blasted the regulator’s anti-steering provisions, saying they “open the door to scams and threaten the security of users,” per the BBC’s report.
The CMA responds
In reaction to Apple’s statements, the CMA said that their proposed rules are less similar to the DMA than Apple makes them out to be, stressing that they are more limited in scope.
Regarding the issue of interoperability, for instance, the BBC said that the regulator argued that “it is focused on ensuring the interoperability of particular aspects of Apple’s tech such as digital wallets and watches, so that UK developers can use them to create innovative new apps.”
The organ also said its goal is to drive greater competition without undermining “privacy, security or intellectual property” and that its next steps “will ensure it does not.”
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