The European Union on Wednesday outlined the steps that Apple must take to open up its iPhone and iPad operating systems to work better with competing technologies.
It’s the first time it has moved to compel a technology company to comply with the bloc’s digital rulebook, known as the Digital Markets Act.
The 27-nation bloc’s executive Commission had opened two “specification proceedings” last year to lay out the steps Apple needed to comply with the sweeping rulebook, also known as the DMA, which took effect last year.
In its decision, the commission detailed the measures that the iPhone maker has to take so that smartwatches and other devices have better access to Apple’s iOS operating system. It also laid out a second set of measures aimed at improving transparency and effectiveness of the process for software developers to request access to iPhone features.
With its decision, Brussels is “providing regulatory certainty both to Apple and to developers,” the European Commission Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera said in a press release.
“Effective interoperability” for third-party devices will mean “better choice for consumers in the fast-growing market for innovative connected devices,” she said.
Apple, however, voiced its unhappiness with result, saying it’s bad for the company’s products and for European users.
“Today’s decisions wrap us in red tape, slowing down Apple’s ability to innovate for users in Europe and forcing us to give away our new features for free to companies who don’t have to play by the same rules,” the company said in a statement.
Apple said it will continue to work with the European Commission to “help them understand our concerns on behalf of our users.”
The Commission also said Wednesday that Google wasn’t doing enough to comply with DMA. Despite making changes, including removing flight listings, Google was still giving preference to its own services in search results, it said.
Google is also failing to let app developers steer users to cheaper options outside its Google Play Store app marketplace, the commission said in preliminary findings.
Google said the EU findings will require the company to make even more changes to how it displays some search results, “which would make it harder for people to find what they are looking for and reduce traffic to European businesses. This is, quite simply, misguided.”
