Brussels has taken a further step towards forcing Apple to facilitate the compatibility of the operating systems used by iPhones and iPads with applications and devices manufactured by other companies and computer developers. The European Commission has launched two processes with which it intends to specify to the technology giant what measures it must apply so that iOS and iPadOS can be interoperable with the products of other companies. These proceedings, already being carried out ex officio by the Competition Department of the EU Executive, are governed by the Digital Markets Regulation (DMA) which imposes additional obligations on large technology companies to guarantee free competition.
With the first procedure, Brussels wants to make devices manufactured by other companies compatible with the iOS operating system. In other words, Competition wants iPhones to be able to communicate with digital watches or headphones. “The Commission intends to specify how Apple will provide effective interoperability with functionalities such as notifications, device pairing and connectivity,” it explains. the statement issued by the Commission. The second is to provide transparency so that application developers can submit interoperability requests with the two operating systems of Apple devices (iOS for iPhone and iPadOS for iPad), the same text points out, saying that it is important to have security and predictability so that third-party companies can innovate with guarantees.
The Commission will now have a six-month period to complete. At the end of this period, it will explain its findings to Apple and will state what measures it must take to comply with the law. In this procedure, the company’s competitors have the right to participate by submitting their own observations. Moreover, taking this step, the Competition Department clarifies, does not exclude the possibility of fines.
In its response, the Californian tech giant says that, in its opinion, the company has already done everything necessary to adapt to the obligations imposed by the DMA. It points out that it has already created 250,000 interfaces “that allow developers to create apps that access” the operating systems. “To comply with the DMA, we have also created ways for EU apps to request additional interoperability with iOS and iPadOS, while protecting our users,” it adds.
As regards the iOS operating system, which is used by iPhones, Apple should have complied with all the obligations imposed by the DMA on 7 March, six months after being designated as a major market operator. It did not do so in light of the Commission’s subsequent move, which opened a case against the technology company. It was not the only one, investigations were also started into Alphabet, Amazon and Meta. In the case of iPadOS, the deadline for purchasing with the additional measures of the DMA ends on 30 October, since it was designated as a major market player in April.
Industry and EU sources point out that Apple is one of the technology companies that is showing the most reluctance to willingly accept the new additional obligations contained in the DMA for large companies in the sector. This regulation reverses the burden of proof to avoid what has been happening until now in Competition investigations into market abuse by the largest market players in the digital sector: from the time an investigation began until it was concluded (with a sanction, compensatory measures or a menu of both), the market had completely changed and the initial objective no longer had any real effect.
