Apple and Microsoft are working hard to ensure that their iMessage and Bing services are not subject to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). Both companies claim that their software solutions are not big enough to meet the requirements of new legislation aimed at increasing digital competition in the EU market.
The European Commission plans to publish a list of IT companies covered by the DMA on September 6th. This list will include large organizations and the specific services they provide. Services selected based on their revenues and number of users will be required to comply with a set of interoperability and competition rules.
Apple and Microsoft, along with Amazon, Alphabet, Meta✴, ByteDance and Samsung, are already on the list. However, the European Commission has not yet determined exactly which parts of your business should be included in it. Once the EU approves the document, companies will have six months until March 2024 to comply with the DMA rules.
According to the Financial Times (FT), Microsoft is unlikely to contest that Windows is subject to DMA, but the company claims that its search engine Bing’s share of the search engine market is small (compared to its competitor most popular, Google) and could even decline if it has to provide access to competing search engines.
Likewise, Apple is developing methods to allow iOS to work with app stores and third-party app downloads without going through the App Store to comply with DMA rules. However, according to the FT, the company claims that its iMessage application does not reach the legal limit of 45 million monthly active users and, therefore, should not interact with other messengers. Although Apple did not reveal specific numbers, it is speculated that iMessage could have a billion users worldwide.
The Digital Markets Act is part of a suite of EU laws that aim to reduce the dominance of big technology companies. Recently, it has become clear that the growing influence of tech giants is causing concern among regulators around the world.
These new measures demonstrate Europe’s desire to control and regulate the activities of the largest players in the IT industry, in order to provide a fairer and more competitive environment for all market participants. This period can be challenging, but it opens up new opportunities for innovation and improving the user experience.
THE NAIS IS OFFICIAL EDITOR ON NAIS NEWS