EU General Court rejects Apple’s challenge to App Store and iOS “gatekeeper” designation

In 2023, the European Union designated iOS, the App Store and Safari as “gatekeepers”. Apple has been unhappy with the rules this designation entails and has been fighting a lengthy legal battle. Apple tried to argue that it in fact has five app stores – one each for iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, Apple TVs and Macs – and that they should not be treated as a single Core Platform Service (CPS). These are services which “play an indispensable role as an intermediary between businesses wishing to offer their services online and end users.” And in Apple’s view, only the iOS App Store cleared...

Europe's General Court dismissed Apple's challenge to the EU's designation of its App Stores and iOS as "gatekeepers" under the Digital Markets Act. The ruling means Apple remains subject to DMA obligations requiring it to allow alternative app stores, support interoperability with rival services, and avoid favoring its own services over competitors. MacRumors reports: Apple took its case to Luxembourg's General Court in 2024 after the European Commission designated its five App Stores -- on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch -- as a single core platform service under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a label that brings with it a set of strict obligations. Designated "gatekeepers" are prohibited from favoring their own services over those of rivals, and are prevented from combining personal data across different services. They also have to give users the option to use alternative app stores. Apple also challenged the EU's designation of iOS as a gateway platform, a status that requires the operating system allows rival services to interoperate with it. The company also disputed the classification of iMessage as a number-independent interpersonal communications service, or NIICS, which would subject the app to EU telecoms rules. But the General Court said Apple's actions regarding the iMessage service are inadmissible. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The General Court upheld Apple’s designation under the Digital Markets Act and ruled the company must wait for future enforcement actions to challenge many of the law’s obligations.

Apple has spent two years arguing that Europe’s digital rulebook should not apply to it in quite the way Brussels insists. On Wednesday, the EU’s General Court told it, in effect, that it does. The court threw out Apple’s challenge to being labelled a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act, the designation that ties the […] This story continues at The Next Web

Apple has lost another round in its legal challenges to the European Union and its Digital Markets Act, this time over whether iMessage and its App Store should even be subject to that regulation.Apple is challenging the DMA in ever higher courts in the EU - image credit: EUBack in 2023, Apple acknowledged that it qualified under the then-new definition of being what the EU called a gatekeeper service. But key to that is the size of the operation, and since 2024, Apple has been claiming it runs five smaller App Stores rather than one large one.Instead, Apple says that there are different App Stores for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and the Apple Watch. Now according to Reuters, the EU General Court in Luxembourg has ruled that is irrelevant. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Apple has lost its court challenge against EU rules forcing it to open up its platforms to third parties.