iPads join iPhones in requirement to follow strict EU rules

Following an almost eight-month investigation into whether Apple’s iPadOS holds capable marketplace powerfulness to warrant stricter regulation, nan European Commission has now designated nan iPad operating strategy arsenic a Gatekeeper work nether its flagship Digital Markets Act (DMA) rules.

“The Commission concluded that iPadOS constitutes an important gateway for business users to scope extremity users, and that Apple enjoys an entrenched and durable position pinch respect to iPadOS,” sounds a connection published by nan Commission connected Monday. “Apple now has six months to guarantee afloat compliance pinch nan DMA obligations arsenic applied to iPadOS.”

Under nan DMA, which came into unit connected March 7th, iPadOS will now person to comply pinch a wide scope of rules that let users successful Europe to download apps from extracurricular nan Apple App Store, uninstall apps preloaded connected iPads, and prime default services for illustration browsers from prime screens. If Apple fails to comply pinch nan DMA rules for operating systems, nan institution could look fines of up to 10 percent of its world revenue, aliases up to 20 percent for repetition infractions.

The Commission says its investigation recovered that iPadOS users are locked into nan platform, noting that nan number of business users exceeded nan quantitative gatekeeper period by “eleven times,” while extremity personification numbers were “close to nan period and are predicted to emergence successful nan adjacent future.” EU antitrust main Margrethe Vestager besides said nan investigation showed that “despite not gathering nan thresholds, iPadOS constitutes an important gateway connected which galore companies trust to scope their customers.”

The company’s iOS mobile operating system, Safari browser, and App Store were already designated arsenic Gatekeeper services nether nan DMA successful September 2023 (when nan iPadOS investigation was announced) yet forcing nan institution to present location changes for illustration alternative app marketplaces wrong nan EU. Despite utmost similarities betwixt nan 2 platforms, astir of nan DMA compliance changes Apple has made to iOS haven’t been extended to iPadOS.