The battle between the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the US's Digital Markets Act has clearly continued fiercely this year, with...Setapp Mobile, a well-known third-party software marketplaceApple announces the closure of its iOS business amid conflict with the European Commission.Another outbreak.
Apple issued a statement earlier, unusually launching a strong attack on the EU for using "political delay tactics," accusing regulators of deliberately ignoring Apple's compliance proposals in order to keep "moving the goal posts" in order to impose huge fines on Apple.
SetApp is failing; Apple says the EU is preventing me from changing the rules.
The dispute was sparked by Setapp v, a third-party software marketplace owned by developer MacPaw, recently announcing the cessation of its iOS operations. MacPaw stated that Apple's business terms were "constantly changing and overly complex," making them unsuitable for Setapp's current business model.
The European Commission blamed Apple for Setapp's failure, arguing that Apple failed to address the issue of overly complex commercial terms. Apple, however, protested its innocence, stating that it had wanted to change the terms for some time.
In a statement to Bloomberg News, Apple stated, "The European Commission has refused to allow us to implement the changes they themselves are demanding." Apple emphasized that it submitted a formal compliance adjustment plan as early as last October, but the EU has "not yet responded," therefore believing this to be a delaying tactic by the EU to mislead the public, and using this as grounds to launch a lengthy investigation and impose fines on Apple.
The tug-of-war over core technology fees (CTF)
Looking back at this battle, since the Digital Marketplace Act officially came into effect, although Apple has allowed iOS devices to use the third-party software marketplace, it has still set up many barriers. The most controversial of these is the "Core Technology Fee," which requires developers to pay 0.5 euros for each app download and installation after the app has been downloaded more than 100 million times, as a maintenance fee for the Apple platform.
In April of last year, the EU ruled that Apple was restricting users from using alternative payment methods.This is a violationTherefore, they were fined. Then, in June of the same year, Apple proposed to change the charging model for third-party stores to "Core Technology Commission" (CTC), and operate on a 5% revenue share model.
However, Apple stated that the EU's failure to approve the new regulations has left developers (such as Setapp Mobile) stuck in the old, complex terms, ultimately forcing them to withdraw.
Regarding the allegations against Apple, an EU spokesperson responded in a standard manner that they are in "ongoing dialogue" with Apple, with the goal of finding a solution that fully complies with digital markets law, while also listening to the opinions of developers.
