Somehow the United States beat the EU at a solution for App Store stangleholds: unlock developer free speech to ease off-platform payment flows and messaging (apps can communicate with users from an email address collected inside the app, and directly link to web payments pre-filled out). The California court ruling has Apple continue to oversee App Store distribution (addressing legitimate security grievances), while the off-platform payments function serves as a new “watchdog” group for App Store taxes.
Apple’s new EU rules are receiving less press because the U.S. trial gave away the game. These are desperate measures to prolong a high-margin revenue stream long enough to dump the consequences onto another Apple executive. The EU will surely act; the only question is whether it’ll be able to protect itself… from itself.
The EU has hindered itself by focusing on destructive regulatory frameworks, prioritizing ex ante (before acting) regulation over ex post (after the fact) regulation, and positive rights (the obligation to provide a service) versus negative rights (the inability to create a restriction). There’s no better example than the Digital Markets Act (ok, maybe GDPR), which requires platforms to build new technology around interoperability API layers.
Part of the requirement is a new licensing schema where Digital Gatekeepers (another new legal status, that may change based on active users) need to justify every rejection for API access, in addition to providing certain KPIs. The rules require certain features for applicants, which, of course, the gatekeepers already possess, having happily complied with GDPR.
Not all regulation is created equal, a fact that often gets lost in modern political discourse. In the U.S., private actors (Epic) were able to press the case rather than a Commission Investigation (could there be a more bureaucratic term?). Instead of the DMA’s arbitrary 10% global revenue fine, which is based on a set of rules with no precedent clarification, there is also clear injunctive relief in the United States with modest pay-the-loser legal fees. Nothing could be worse than an outcome that incentivizes uncertainty and punishes with significant financial penalties.
This is becoming apparent as Apple has paused the iPhone mirroring from EU-based macOS devices. What is a “Core Platform Service”, which would require interoperability, and what isn’t? What Mac features now need to be ported to Windows? Another EU Commission Investigation will surely clarify.