Apple Fails to Convince EU That Its Five App Stores Are Different Shops
Corporate lawyers deserve a raise for creativity, but the EU judges aren't buying the comedy act. Apple tried to play a hilarious game of regulatory hide-and-seek, and the outcome is pure, unadulterated bureaucratic schadenfreude.
The European General Court officially dismissed Apple's desperate appeal to treat its various digital storefronts as completely unrelated entities. The tech giant had argued that the App Store on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch are entirely separate platforms. Judges, however, pointed out the obvious: all five shops exist solely to connect software developers with end-users, making them parts of a single monolithic gateway.
This legal gymnastics routine was an attempt to dodge the EU's strict Digital Markets Act, which slaps a "gatekeeper" label on massive digital services. By arguing that each device has its own boutique shop, the iPhone maker hoped to slide under the regulatory radar. Instead, the court upheld the decision, cementing the status of the App Store and iOS as crucial bottlenecks that must open up to fair competition.
The judicial beatdown didn't stop at the storefront. The court also threw out complaints regarding the gatekeeper status of iMessage, forcing the company to play nice with third-party competitors. The Cupertino giant reacted with its usual corporate drama, claiming that these regulations threaten user privacy and security, undermining decades of hard work. The company still retains the right to drag this fight to the highest legal body, the European Court of Justice.
Watching a trillion-dollar company argue that its watch store has absolutely nothing to do with its phone store is peak corporate comedy. The EU's regulatory whip is finally forcing the walled garden to open its gates, proving that even the slickest marketing cannot rewrite basic logic.
Source: Reuters
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