According to Bloomberg, iMessage is one of the Apple services that has been under the EU's antitrust scrutiny for months, along with the App Store and the Safari browser on iOS. Of these, iMessage is the first service that the EU has launched an investigation into.
iMessage is temporarily safe from EU antitrust investigation
The EC’s five-month investigation found that iMessage “is not very popular in the region,” meaning Apple’s mobile messaging service is safe from antitrust scrutiny, at least for now.
The lack of popularity of iMessage in the EU is a stark contrast to what it is in the US, where the service is “extremely popular,” especially in the corporate sector. Sources said iMessage is not widely used in business operations in the EU, so investigators believe the service “does not qualify as a significant gateway for corporate customers.”
It should be noted that the EC’s investigation is supposed to end in February 2024, so there is still time for the Commission to change its mind. During this process, the EC will also examine services from other tech giants such as Microsoft and Meta. According to the disclosure, some companies have asked the EC to double-check whether their services are covered by the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Apple acknowledged in a financial filing last month that it would have to open up its platform to rival app stores, a move it plans to do as early as next year.
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