Member-only story
Apple vs. EU: The €500M App Store Showdown Over Exactly What?
The EU just did what many people claim it does best, it dropped another regulatory €500M fine onto Apple. In its press release “Commission finds Apple in breach of the Digital Markets Act”, the EU claims that Apple violated the Digital Markets Act by hindering developers from promoting their alternative offerings outside Apple’s App Store. But what specifically is the critique of the European Union? What does it demand from Apple, what does Spotify CEO Daniel Elk have to do with it and what does it change for app developers? Let’s have a look.
In the press release, the European Commission accused Apple of not being compliant with the EU’s Digital Markets Act by imposing restrictions on developers. They claim, because of these restrictions, developers cannot benefit from the advantages of “alternative distribution”.
“Due to a number of restrictions imposed by Apple, app developers cannot fully benefit from the advantages of alternative distribution channels outside the App Store. Similarly, consumers cannot fully benefit from alternative and cheaper offers as Apple prevents app developers from directly informing consumers of such offers.” — European Commission, April 23rd
The first questions that comes most of you to mind is: How, exactly? There aren’t many information on the specific cases…
