As the deadline approaches, the European Commission has finally confirmed that iMessage will not be subject to the Digital Market Act. The European Commission has just delivered its verdict on Apple messaging, which therefore escapes the interoperability obligation which particularly affects WhatsApp. Bing is also excluded from the new legislation.
The shadow of the Digital Market Act (DMA) has loomed over GAFAM for over a year now. On March 7, this new regulation which aims to regulate the dominant positions of large tech companies, which the European Union calls “gatekeepers”, will come into force with all its restrictions. Among them, we find in particular the interoperability of messaging. WhatsApp, which has inherited the gatekeeper label, is already preparing for the fateful date.
But some messaging services were still in the dark, despite the imminent implementation of the DMA. iMessage has been a sticky case for the EU, with the app being particularly popular in the United States, but much less so on the Old Continent. Last December, it already seemed that the Commission was leaning in favor of removing the concept of gatekeeper for iMessage. The decision is now official, reports Bloomberg.
iMessage will not have to open up to other messaging services in Europe
The European Commission has therefore delivered its final verdict: iMessage does not have a large enough user base in Europe to be subject to the DMA. Let us remember that the threshold was set at 45 million users. Since last year, Apple has been fighting to make it clear that iMessage does not reach this threshold in Europe. The latter therefore allowed the Commission to confirm this assertion.
On the same subject — iMessage on Android is possible, but you need a jailbroken iPhone
No interoperability for iMessage in Europe therefore, unlike WhatsApp. News that suits Apple well, which already has to make some concessions on its application store, by accepting the arrival of competition on iOS. In addition, the recent decision of the European Commission also concerns Bing. Microsoft’s search engine also escapes the DMA, which should allow it to quietly develop its obsession with artificial intelligence.
Source: Bloomberg