Apple could open up the EU App Store a little more this week in order to avoid paying EU regulators another hefty fine.
The iPhone maker was fined €500m in April for breaching the EU’s Digital Markets Act. Apple was found to have failed to open up its App Store enough to satisfy EU regulators, and more fines are due this week unless the tech giant fully complies with the competition laws.
Yesterday, the Financial Times reported that the tech giant is negotiating with EU regulators to make those changes right now.
The FT’s sources expect Apple “to announce some concessions that buy the company more time”. The European Commission would then assess those changes before making a final decision on whether to levy another fine, says the FT.
In April, EU regulators said that Apple had not removed enough “technical and commercial restrictions” on its EU App Store after Apple introduced a complex new set of policies in January 2024, apparently designed to comply with the Digital Markets Act.
Those new policies also included a controversial, Runtime Fee-style Core Technology Fee which would charge developers per install. Apple’s new policies prompted fury from developers and vendors across the mobile games business.
When it issued the first €500m fine back in April, the European Commission stated that “app developers distributing their apps via Apple’s App Store should be able to inform customers, free of charge, of alternative offers outside the App Store, steer them to those offers and allow them to make purchases.”
Apple will need to remove those restrictions to avoid another fine. While it’s unlikely we’ll see the complete removal of Apple’s anti-steering policies, as we have seen in the US, some loosening of the restrictions are expected.
Of course, Epic boss Tim Sweeney weighed in on X, suggesting that perhaps Apple should “just obey the law”.
“As Europe’s Digital Markets Act clearly says, and as US court precedent clearly says, Apple can’t obstruct steering, can’t obstruct web links, and can’t add the Apple Tax to any transactions occurring on the web,” he added.
