According to the latest information from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) has been passed by the European Parliament to regulate the monopolistic practices of online platforms. This means that smartphone operating systems will have to allow downloads from external stores, not just the Play Store or App Store.
In the case of Apple, they have stated that they are prepared to comply with this new law, which will come into effect on March 7th. They will create a separate version of the App Store specifically for the EU, which will differ from the rest of the world. However, there are no details yet on how exactly this will work. Apple has been working and consulting with regulatory agencies throughout this process.
Just last week, Margrethe Vestager, the head of the European Commission’s competition watchdog, met with Tim Cook at Apple’s headquarters. It was revealed that they discussed compliance with the DMA, as well as the issue of monopolistic practices currently under investigation by the European Commission.
TLDR: The European Parliament has passed the Digital Markets Act, requiring smartphone operating systems to allow downloads from external stores. Apple has stated that they will comply with this law and create a separate EU version of the App Store. Details of how this will work are not yet available. The head of the European Commission’s competition watchdog recently met with Apple CEO Tim Cook to discuss compliance with the DMA and ongoing investigations into monopolistic practices.
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