Whoever thought that Apple was already complying with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) of the European Union was wrong. At least that is what the European Commission itself believes, who have already opened an investigation to check whether iOS already complies with the regulations. The last thing has been ask that the same rules be applied to iPadsgiven that until now it had been exempt.
This means that all changes applied to the iPhone must also be present in iPadOS. It shouldn’t be immediately, but Europe gives Apple a period of half a year to fulfill it. At the moment Apple has not commented.
“Users are tied to iPadOS”, according to the European Commission
Apple was one of the companies designated as gatekeeper on the part of Europe, something that the highest European establishment did to guarantee that its devices and systems did not imply a closure typical of a monopolistic practice. The iPhone was also pointed out with this, imposing a series of changes that the company applied with iOS 17.4 last March. They now add the iPad to this bandwagon in an official statement issued today.
The iPhone entered that fight when it was considered that, due to its number of users, it complied with the obligation to apply changes. This had not been the case with iPads, although Europe already stated in September that they would begin to investigate whether there were reasons to also appoint them “gatekeepers.” Finally, and although not by number of users, they have designated it.
The European Commission’s investigation concludes that, despite “not meeting the qualitative thresholds of the WFD”, it does They end up appointing him for his professional implications. They summarize it in three fundamental points:
- The number of professional users It did exceed the threshold established by the DMA eleven times, while private users were close and expect (from Europe) to reach it “in the near future.”
- Home users “are tied to iPadOS” by imposing, always according to Europe, a series of limitations in order to transfer your data to other tablet operating systems.
- Professional users too They feel the same way by having a large share of users in certain modes of use, exposing games as one of them.
And now that?
Simply put, Europe concludes with the warning that Apple has six months to ensure DMA compliance. All of this after concluding that the company “enjoys a strong and durable position with respect to iPadOS. Apple now has six months to ensure full compliance with the DMA obligations applied to iPadOS.”
From Applesfera we have contacted Apple to find out the company’s position regarding this new imposition. At the moment we are still waiting to know that position, but we do know that, as established by European law itself, could lead to million-dollar penalties. Specifically, fines are contemplated that would range from 10% to 20% of the company’s annual turnover.
Therefore, what is expected is that, just as they did in iOS, Apple opens the doors of iPadOS to a multitude of changes: choice of default browser as soon as you open Safari, ability to install stores from the web or alternative stores, improved data transfer from iPadOS to Android and more.