In a sharp escalation of its ongoing regulatory battles, Apple has accused the European Commission (EC) of employing “political delay tactics” to stall the implementation of new app policies, allegedly as a means to launch investigations and impose fines on the tech giant, according to Bloomberg News’ Mark Gurman.
The accusation comes in response to emerging reports that the EC is poised to blame Apple for the impending closure of Setapp, a popular third-party app marketplace. Setapp, developed by MacPaw, is set to shut down next month. MacPaw attributed the decision to “still-evolving and complex business terms that don’t fit Setapp’s current business model.”
Apple’s preemptive statement highlights growing tensions between the iPhone maker and European regulators, who have been pushing for greater openness in the App Store ecosystem under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The company argues that the EC’s delays are not genuine efforts to refine policies but rather strategic maneuvers to build cases for enforcement actions.
This development underscores the broader conflict over app distribution and sideloading in the EU, where Apple has faced scrutiny for its control over iOS apps. While Apple has introduced some changes to comply with DMA requirements, critics — including developers like MacPaw — contend that the terms remain overly restrictive and burdensome.
As of now, neither the European Commission nor MacPaw has issued further comments on Apple’s allegations. The situation could lead to additional fines for Apple, which has already been hit with penalties in related antitrust matters. Industry watchers will be monitoring how this unfolds, potentially affecting app developers and consumers across the region.
MacDailyNews Take: Europe, innovation desert that it is, keeps resorting to regulatory shakedowns and hefty fines on American tech giants to pad its coffers because it hasn’t built anything worthwhile of its own in decades.
The European Union arose because the Europeans couldn’t compete on their own with the rest of the world, so they each lined up to surrender their national sovereignty, unique cultures, and dignity for an undemocratic, opaque, wasteful, bloated, bureaucratic quasi-governmental blob – and, even with the EU’s thumbs all over the scale, they still can’t compete. – MacDailyNews, March 4, 2024
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