App Store, Nft, iMessage: this is how the next iPhone could change due to the new European rules
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The next iPhone may still be made in China, but it won’t just be designed in California anymore. Europe could define the characteristics and functions of Apple’s new smartphone (but also of iPads and other products), whether Cupertino wants it or not. In fact, Brussels has imposed an obligation on the manufacturers of electronic gadgets to use the USB-C port, which Apple will also comply with, and with the DMA it could profoundly change the rules of the App Store. More: it could radically transform the way we use the iPhone.
Digital market
The EU has approved the regulation to curb the power of Big Tech
by Alessandro Longo
What is that
The Digital Markets Act is the new European regulation on digital markets, approved by the European Parliament on 5 July 2022 together with the Digital Services Act (DSA), which regulates digital services. The two standards together constitute the Digital Services Package, which will enter into force on 2 May 2023, but which will only be fully operational from spring 2024.
The DMA was created to counter the abuse of the dominant position of the so-called gatekeepers, those companies that have control over access to digital markets due to their greater economic and financial availability, the high number of users or the capacity to act as intermediaries. This is the case of Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft (but not only), which play an infrastructural role, establishing standards and rules that everyone must comply with. The objective of the regulation is to prevent incorrect behavior by Big Tech and at the same time promote innovation and competition in digital markets.
Specifically, the Digital Markets Act applies to companies that provide browsers, messaging or social media services to at least 45 million monthly end users in the EU. At the same time, they must have 10,000 annual commercial users, a market capitalization of at least €75 billion, or an annual turnover of €7.5 billion. In terms of size, turnover and degree of market penetration, the Cupertino-based company can undoubtedly be considered as a gatekeeper, and this from various points of view.
Safety
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A radical change
Thus, according to Bloomberg, Apple is preparing a radical rethinking of the operating systems for iPhone and iPad to allow you to install applications from other stores than the official one. For those who have been following the events of the iPhone for some time, it is somehow a return to the past: it would in fact be a sort of authorized jailbreaking. The technique (“release from prison”) made it possible to use the Apple smartphone with operators other than those originally envisaged, and above all, to operate apps of all kinds. The practice went on for some time, and today there are still several iPhone jailbreaks in theory, but very few still use them. Meanwhile, in 14 years of the App Store, the iPhone and iPad app market has grown into a huge business, growing to $64.9 billion in revenue for purchases, premium apps and subscriptions in the first nine months of 2022.
An app economy was born and thrives that escapes the rules of national markets, and this has caused various frictions, for example in South Korea. At the same time, protests by developers against the rules imposed by Apple have increased: thus 30% of Receive App Cost of Sale and In-App Purchases now only applies to businesses exceeding $1 million in annual revenue, and only for the first year. Elon Musk played on this, after an artfully constructed controversy, to launch Twitter Blue with two prices: 8 dollars or 11 dollars, depending on whether the subscription is subscribed to on the social network site or via an iOS app. Google, which charges the same rates as Apple on developer revenues, nevertheless allows the installation of software downloaded from digital stores other than the official Play Store, and therefore should not be affected – in this respect – by the DMA.
Social networks
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by Bruno Ruffilli
Not just apps
But the new European rules could require other important adjustments from Apple. For example, the obligation to allow the use of third-party payment platforms, rather than your own in-app payment system. Apple will also need to open up its various services and features to others, such as allowing apps to integrate with iMessage or setting another digital assistant as the default instead of Siri.
Then there’s access to hardware features typically limited or inhibited by apps. NFC, to begin with: today only Wallet and Apple Pay use it, but in the future alternative apps and payment systems could be allowed directly on the iPhone. But the same goes for the camera, access to which is very limited.
Also for software, the Digital Markets Act could prevent Apple from giving its apps preferential treatment over others, for example by minimizing the ability to promote Apple Music or Apple Arcade in the App Store. Other restrictions on default apps and the forced use of specific frameworks or Webkit as the only engine for browsers could also be lifted.
The pressure of the greats of technology on Europe
by Bruno Ruffilli
Cupertino’s version
Apple has often called alternative stores and jailbreaking a threat to user security, and it seems unlikely to change sides. To partially reduce the drop in profits from the App Store, it could, for example, impose specific requirements even if the applications are distributed on third-party stores or available for download on websites and certify the apps in good standing with a sort of guarantee stamp. According to Bloomberg, Tim Cook’s company is investing “a significant amount of resources” in the effort to comply with the DMA, so much so that some other products could suffer even considerable slowdowns. This does not mean that third-party Stores can really arrive or that they can be available all over the world, but in the meantime it is better to be ready: gatekeepers who do not comply with the DMA risk a fine of up to 10% of total annual worldwide turnover , which can rise to 20% in the event of repeated violations.
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