It was already known that the EU Commission under Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager had considered that Apple was violating the new Digital Markets Act (DMA). Financial news agency Bloomberg reported on Tuesday evening that now apparently preparations are being made to impose a huge fine against the iPhone company. want apple Due to “anti-competitive practices in the App Store”.It could be billions of euros.
Advertisement
Already almost two billion thanks to Spotify
Recently, Apple had to give up a lot of money in the EU: after the final defeat in the European Court of Justice, 13 billion euros due to subsidy violations at the EU headquarters in Ireland and 1.8 billion euros due to discrimination against the App Store music service Spotify. Now a “big” DMA fine is imminent. People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Vestager’s team is preparing for punishment after the iPhone maker stopped allowing app developers to direct users to (possibly cheaper) offers outside the App Store.
It is apparently planned that the punishment will be imposed before the end of Vestager’s term this month – as a final highlight of her work as competition commissioner. But he said that it may take time till the end of the year. Neither Apple nor the EU Commission initially commented on the report.
It’s about (a lot of) money
The EU Commission officially warned Apple in June that it would have to give developers new opportunities to advertise their offerings outside the App Store. The iPhone maker recently submitted a compliance plan. Apart from iOS, iPadOS is also regulated.
According to DMA, a heavy fine has been imposed on Apple. At least according to the legislator, this works to stop anti-competitive behavior as quickly as possible. Payments amounting to 10 percent of global annual sales are at risk, which could double if the breach continues. A regular fine of 5 percent of daily sales is also conceivable. Vestager has regularly debated publicly with Apple, with the Commission also pursuing proceedings against Google and Meta. However, these rarely make headlines. Apple boss Tim Cook once described EU tax demands in the Irish dispute as “political nonsense” – an unusual statement for the otherwise reserved manager.
(B.Sc.)
