The European Commission is expanding its efforts to balance the scales in the Big Tech with two new interpartide requirements that can eventually force Apple to open its wall garden doors.
On March 18, the European Commission Announced two new decisions About its Digital Markets Act (DMA), which is designed to make the tech industry more fair and accessible by challenging Google and Apple’s big “gatekeeper” companies.
The latest update is focused on Apple’s co -operation responsibility, Apple needs to make it easier to use third -party devices and services with Apple devices. The Commission is demanding Apple to open access to some of the IOS features that will allow third party devices, such as smart watchs and headphones, to work better with iPhones.
The idea is to equalize the playground for third -party accessories, which is currently in a big loss than Apple Watch or Air Pod due to current small, but important contact features.
The Commission also ordered Apple to create a more fair and transparent process to handle mutual cooperation requests, including “better access to technical documents on the third party, timely communication and updates for the current features available, and more predictions for review of mutual cooperation requests.” These applications are very important to third party developers who want their devices or services to work well with iPhones and iPads.
These requirements may feel like small changes, but they can be the key to opening Apple’s wall iron door.
For example, commission Explained in a question and answer That these new requirements of mutual cooperation will improve the functionality for third -party smart watchs, saying, “iPhone users will be better chances of receiving push information and responding to these notifications, including photos on their non -Apple Smart Watch.”
Such small things can decide the factors for many people as they are trying to choose between a third -party device and its Apple counterpart. A non -Apple pair of headphones may look better or better, but if they are more frustrating to connect with the Air Pods’ couple, many people can only decide for air pods.
Such conditions make it difficult for other brands to compete with Apple, regardless of how well their products are compared to Apple’s own, just as it is to solve the DMA.
Third -party developers have also identified this. Eric Megicosky, founder of Pable and Core Devices Shared a blog post Prior to the start of its two new smart watches, Core 2 pair and Core Time 2, which shed light in which Apple has deepened third -party smart watches to:
“I want to set expectations accordingly. We will prepare a good app for the iOS, but be prepared. – We have no way to support all the functionality that Apple Watch has access to. Sending text messages for a third party smart watch, or notification is impossible to respond (such as a lot of).
Megicovsky even said that “Apple systematically makes it almost impossible for third -party wearing developers to develop a smart watch experience than Apple Watch experience.”
It is exactly what the European Commission is trying to resolve. Although the DMA applies only in the European Union, it is hoped that the changes that make Apple make up will eventually open the IOS ecosystem in other regions.
