Apple will get its way: iMessage will not be subject to the Digital Markets Act

Apple will get its way and ensure that iMessage is not subject to the European Union Digital Markets Act.. In accordance with BloombergThe European Commission would tentatively conclude that Apple’s messaging platform would not be popular enough among businesses. Thus, it will be exempt from the rules that will come into force in 2024.

Although the investigation will not end until February next year, European regulators will be ready to agree with Apple. Cupertino officials argued that iMessage should not be considered a “core service” for which they play a gatekeeper role because it is not as popular in Europe as it is in the United States.

The Digital Markets Act sets out various criteria to determine whether a company is a gatekeeper. Among them, they provide core services with more than 45 million monthly active end users and 10,000 annual enterprise users during the last fiscal year. Apple says that’s not the case with iMessage.and the executive branch of the European Union would be willing to agree with him.

Of course, at least for now, we are talking about unofficial data. Apple and the European Commission have not publicly commented on the matter, but sources from Bloomberg They claim that the justification provided by Apple to protect the future of iMessage would convince regulators.

iMessage will go beyond the Digital Markets Act

If the message is confirmed, It is likely that disputes will not keep you waiting. Recently, Apple has faced very strong pressure from competitors and the telecommunications sector to open up iMessage.

In early November, Google and Chief telecommunications companies European companies (Telefónica, Orange, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone) sent a note to the European Commission demanding that the Apple platform be subject to the Digital Markets Act. In his letter, They refuted Apple’s argument about iMessage’s alleged lack of popularity in the region..

“The fundamental nature of iMessage as an essential gateway between business users and their customers certainly justifies Apple’s appointment as the gatekeeper of its iMessage service. […] It is critical that businesses can reach all their customers using modern communications services with rich messaging capabilities. “Through iMessage, business users can only send rich messages to iOS users, leaving all other end users to rely on traditional SMS,” the letter said.

Added to this are growing unofficial efforts to make iMessage compatible with Android. Nothing teamed up with Sunbird to achieve this goal, although these efforts were short-lived due to serious privacy concerns. Meanwhile, in the last hours it was launched Mini beeperanother messenger for Android, compatible with the Apple service.

RCS support, intermediate solution

To ease the pressure, Apple recently announced that iPhones will support the RCS messaging protocol starting in 2024. Cupertino has been asking for this for years, but it never seemed to happen. Once implemented, messaging between an Apple mobile phone and any Android smartphone will have support for rich features. It’s not the same as opening iMessage, but it’s still better than what’s currently offered.

Remember that iMessage is integrated into the Messages app and can be used on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. The service provides enhanced communication between devices in the Apple ecosystem, but uses regular SMS and MMS when communication occurs, for example, between an iPhone and an Android mobile device. This led to the famous dispute between “blue bubbles” And “green bubbles”especially in the US, where Apple mobile devices account for more than 50% of the market.

It was originally said that the Digital Markets Act would force messaging services, including iMessage, to be fully interoperable. However, the scope of this measure turned out to be much more limited than originally advertised. For now, Apple’s plans to protect its platform in Europe will bear fruit. The final decision will be known in February next year.