Apple blames EU’s Digital Markets Act for feature delays

Since it came into effect 3 years ago, the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) has sought to rein successful large tech platforms’ anti-competitive behavior, mostly by making it easier for users to power platforms and determination information betwixt devices and apps.

Big tech hasn’t been blessed with that, of course, and present Apple’s travel retired swinging against the regulation. The institution connected Wednesday blamed the EU’s enforcement of the DMA for delaying the motorboat of immoderate features successful the EU, saying the rules are “leading to a worse experience” for Apple customers successful the bloc by exposing them to caller risks and reducing choices.

Because the DMA requires companies to physique successful interoperability with 3rd enactment devices and applications, Apple claims it has to hold immoderate features successful the EU, including its new unrecorded translation diagnostic for AirPods, iPhone mirroring connected Macs, and the visited places and preferred routes diagnostic connected Maps. The database of delayed features volition “probably get longer,” the institution said.

As the institution frames it, the DMA’s interoperability requirements are hard to quadrate with the company’s committedness to idiosyncratic privacy. The instrumentality requires companies to unfastened up their ecosystems to competitors by making proprietary apps and features compatible with third-party hardware and software. But Apple says its teams are hard-pressed to find a mode to bash truthful without compromising idiosyncratic data.

“We’ve suggested changes to these features that would support our users’ data, but truthful far, the European Commission has rejected our proposals. And according to the European Commission, nether the DMA, it’s amerciable for america to stock these features with Apple users until we bring them to different companies’ products. If we shared them immoderate sooner, we’d beryllium fined and perchance forced to halt shipping our products successful the EU,” Apple wrote successful a blog post.

Apple’s station comes a fewer months aft the EU fined the institution much than $550 million for breaching the DMA by requiring app developers to transact payments for apps and services wrong Apple’s ecosystem. The institution has appealed the decision.

Apple besides argues that letting users instal apps from third-party app stores and usage different outgo mechanisms, arsenic the DMA requires, is expanding the likelihood of scam, malware and fraud risks to its users.

“It’s been much than a twelvemonth since the Digital Markets Act was implemented. Over that time, it’s go wide that the DMA is starring to a worse acquisition for Apple users successful the EU. It’s exposing them to caller risks, and disrupting the simple, seamless mode their Apple products enactment together. And arsenic caller technologies travel out, our European users’ Apple products volition lone autumn further behind,” the institution wrote.

The European Commission did not instantly instrumentality a petition for comment.