iPads join iPhones in demanding to follow strict EU rules

After a nearly eight-month investigation into whether Apple’s iPadOS holds enough market power to justify stricter regulation, the European Commission has now designated the iPad operating system as a Gatekeeper service under its key Markets Act rules. Digital (DMA).

“The Commission concluded that iPadOS constitutes an important gateway for business users to reach end users and that Apple enjoys a consolidated and durable position with regard to iPadOS”, it reads. a statement published by the Commission on Monday. “Apple now has six months to ensure full compliance with the DMA obligations applied to iPadOS.”

Under the DMA, which came into effect on March 7, iPadOS will now have to comply with a wide range of rules that allow users in Europe to download apps from outside the Apple App Store, uninstall apps preloaded on iPads, and select standard services like browsers on choice screens. If Apple does not comply with DMA rules for operating systemsthe company could face fines of up to 10% of its global revenue or up to 20% for repeated violations.

The Commission states that its investigation found that iPadOS users are locked into the platform, noting that the number of business users exceeded the gatekeeper’s quantitative limit by “eleven times,” while the number of end users was “close to the limit and predicts EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager also said the investigation showed that “despite not reaching the limits, iPadOS constitutes an important gateway that many companies rely on to reach their customers. ”.