How Apple wanted to outsmart the EU and piss everyone off

The EU’s new digital law makes even hardened tech bosses sweat. As a proactive antitrust law, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is intended to prevent a handful of particularly powerful tech companies in Europe from trading as they please and stifling emerging competition. Up to 20 percent of global annual group revenues could be due to a tech giant’s repeated violations of digital antitrust law. In extreme cases there is a risk of destruction.

Microsoft, Google and the Facebook group Meta have reluctantly accepted the EU’s stricter rules. A company goes wrong. Apple. From the beginning, the iPhone company made no secret of the fact that it had no desire to implement DMA requirements in the inventor’s mind. In particular, the EU wants to end Apple’s lucrative App Store and payment services monopoly on iPhones.

Apple’s intimidation tactics

Opening up the operating system required by the EU obviously entails both risks and opportunities. It is therefore about protecting iPhone users against the consequences of the Digital Markets Act for their security and privacy, Apple cleverly announced. Apple’s software boss even described installing apps outside the Apple App Store as “cybercriminals’ best friend.” This is nonsense, but it is intended to unsettle iPhone users and prevent them from migrating to potentially cheaper app stores.

Apple’s intimidation tactic is a common PR ploy by pilloried companies: inciting consumers against the supposedly evil regulator. Complain to the EU that wants to make your iPhone unsafe, dear users.

More and more users see through the game. As is known, you can also become a victim of fraudulent apps in Apple’s App Store.

Apple’s Questionable Posts

For years, Apple lobbyists had been pushing the highly dubious message to EU politicians in Brussels that sealed products were safer than open products. An argument that independent IT security experts have been contradicting for just as long: neither new app stores, alternative payment apps nor the free choice of browser make the iPhone unsafe. These are all legitimate demands from software developers and consumer protection organizations, which have always been a given with other operating systems and ensure competition – without sacrificing user security.

For all of the EU’s demands, Apple cited security issues that would allegedly hinder implementation. All these concerns disappear upon closer inspection. The staging tactics that have been successful for many years were not intended to protect consumers, but rather to protect Apple’s bubbling profits.

Special case Apple

Instead of competing, Apple invests huge amounts of money in lobbying to circumvent EU rules. The EU’s antitrust watchdogs have lost patience. Some EU regulations read as if they were written specifically for Apple. Apple has responded with a slew of new requirements and fees for software developers and competing app store providers, designed to prevent anyone from even thinking of taking advantage of the new freedoms.

The fact is: even the iPhone, which is more open in EU countries from iOS 17.4, remains highly secured and Apple remains largely in control.

It is not exactly surprising that Apple is using all kinds of tricks to circumvent the new EU regulations. No other company isolates its products from the competition anymore, no other “gatekeeper” has had to make similarly extensive adjustments, and no other company has more to lose.

The EU clearly threatens Apple

Apple shot the bird when, under the eyes of the EU watchdog, it tried to neutralize game developer Epic Games, which was up in arms over horrendous App Store fees. After a sharp warning from the EU, Apple withdrew and Epic was suddenly allowed to develop its own app store for mobile games such as ‘Fortnite’ for iOS. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton made it clear that there is no place in the EU for threats from powerful platform operators towards app developers.

The EU will now take a closer look at whether and how Apple meets the DMA requirements. Breton had previously publicly warned Apple. If it is concluded that the iPhone manufacturer does not comply with the DMA, which companies such as Mozilla, Spotify or Threema complain about, ‘harsh measures’ will be taken. The EU can tighten the DMA at any time.

Apple gives in – and throws up new hurdles

The threat had an effect. On Tuesday, Apple announced that at least certain major software companies will be allowed to sell their apps on their own websites in the future. But Apple wouldn’t be Apple if they didn’t install high barriers, as they already do with alternative app stores, so the criticism is unlikely to go away. Anyone wanting to sell an app through their website must have published an iOS app that has had more than one million initial installs in the EU and must also pay new fees to Apple.

Apple is once again trying to write the rules itself and implement the EU requirements so laboriously that they have as little effect as possible in practice. At the same time, the group once again warns users about the risks of free internet.

Apple’s macOS operating system shows that installing apps via the Internet works safely. Even when installing apps from the Internet, Apple can revoke the associated developer certificate at any time if an app is found to be malicious. The app in question can then no longer be opened or installed.

iOS becomes more open than ever, but at the same time the operating system’s security features are retained – and Apple retains extensive controls.

Once your reputation is ruined

With its obstructionist policy, Apple is antagonizing consumer advocates, software developers and the EU’s competition watchdogs. Apple accepts the threat of image loss. People are rightly confident that customers will not walk away. Anyone who’s never had a problem with Apple’s golden cage won’t have one now.

However, competition watchdogs in the US and Asia are watching Apple’s behavior in the EU with eagle eyes and will learn lessons as they also tighten the regulatory screws. Meanwhile, Apple is behaving as if the political winds turned against tech giants not so long ago. Instead of accepting the new reality, Apple is acting like a misbehaving child who hasn’t learned that there are rules that apply to everyone. Even for the mighty Apple company.

Instead, Apple concluded that it would be smart to use all kinds of feints to outsmart EU rules, which were apparently not watertight. One final episode in the dispute with the EU: Apple wants everything to be purchased through its own App Store, so that it can make money on every transaction. The free internet is in a sense a disruptive factor that is branded as a danger. It fits into this picture that Apple quietly disabled so-called “Progressive Web Apps” on the home screen shortly before forcing the iPhone to open.

Web apps that work independently of the App Store have been a thorn in Apple’s side for years. Safety arguments were again put forward. Web apps can no longer be supported because the adoption of other browser engines – which is also an EU requirement – ​​would introduce new security risks. One sharp threat from the EU later, Apple came back. However, web apps still only run in Apple’s own browser engine. It is doubtful whether this would be more secure than Google or Mozilla browser technology.

Progressive web apps are websites that appear on the iPhone as a native app. Despite the neglected treatment, Apple for years used web apps as a fig leaf for its argument that app developers weren’t dependent on the App Store. There is no monopoly on the iOS app store; anyone who wants can offer a web app. Apple knows all too well that very few users use web apps.

Long story short: Apple is wasting a lot of goodwill for a short-term win and that could get revenge.