Apple’s DMA Compliance, Summer 2024
Apple took everyone by surprise by announcing on 25 January 2024 how it intended to implement the app store-related provisions of the DMA in advance of the 7 March 2024 deadline. However, it became immediately clear to app developers that Apple’s implementation failed to comply with the DMA. This led Apple to make some limited changes to its terms in rapid succession to then bring more significant changes on 8 August 2024. The purpose of this blog post is to explain (in summary form, as many of these issues are complex and would deserve the sort of granular analysis that would not fit within a blog post) the reasons why Apple’s new terms still fail to comply with the DMA.
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Apple’s August 2024 terms still fail to comply with the DMA. As explained below, they represent minimal progress on all key issues. In some cases, they still violate the letter of some DMA provisions. In other instances, they make it very hard, and in some cases impossible for app developers and their users to take advantage of the benefits of the DMA through a combination of unattractive fees and friction, amounting to circumvention.
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Some of the requirements imposed on app developers who want to make their apps available for direct downloading are problematic: (i) it is not clear why direct downloading is only permitted from the app developer’s website and not, for instance, from a web app store as is the case in the PC space (web app stores may be an efficient means for app developers to distribute their apps and for users to find the apps that may cater to their needs.); (ii) in order for an app developer to be allowed to make its apps available for direct downloading, it has to be “a member in good standing of the Apple Developer Program for two (2) continuous years or more, and have an Application that had more than one (1) million First Annual Installs on iOS and/or iPadOS in the EU in the prior calendar year.” There is no justification for such onerous requirements, which will strictly limit the number of apps that may be eligible for direct downloading; and (iii) for the same reasons as those mentioned in the context of alternative marketplaces, the payment of the CTF to Apple is problematic.
Previously:
- EU iOS Envy
- iOS 18: Browser Choice and Default App Controls in EU
- DMA Compliance: Initial Acquisition and Store Services Fees
- Apple Commits to Opening NFC in EU
- DMA Compliance: Alternative App Stores But No Sideloading
