EU decries App Store anti-steering rules

According to the EU's preliminary view publicized recently, App Store anti-steering rules do not agree with the DMA that it established in March (especially bad, because the EU has previously said that Apple will recieve fines for not being compliant). What are Apple's anti-steering rules? These rules prohibit advertisement of alternative distribution and pricing channels inside devs' apps, restrict links to web pages, and print Apple lots of excess money through commissions of purchases in the linked website made within an exact week of the link being accessed (the European Commission says that commissions should only be charged with the first purchase after the link is opened).

Speaking of the EU criticizing Apple for App Store rules, the EU is also looking for evidence that the Core Technology Fee charged with alternative app stores (even after a rule change for it made early last month) isn't compliant with the DMA, among other alternative app store rules (like an apparently too-hard interface for downloading an alternative app store and alternative app store eligibility requirements).

Apple has responded by saying that it is sure its rules comply. Quoting Apple, “Throughout the past several months, Apple has made a number of changes to comply with the DMA in response to feedback from developers and the European Commission. We are confident our plan complies with the law, and estimate more than 99% of developers would pay the same or less in fees to Apple under the new business terms we created. All developers doing business in the EU on the App Store have the opportunity to utilize the capabilities that we have introduced, including the ability to direct app users to the web to complete purchases at a very competitive rate. As we have done routinely, we will continue to listen and engage with the European Commission.”

Bye! Best hopes for those of you in France set to be affected if Apple has to change rules again!

By Leo