According to the Financial Times, Google and European telecom groups have urged EU regulators to designate Apple’s iMessage as a “core” service, which will force iMessage to interoperate with rival chat services.
In a letter to the European Commission, signatories including Google and some of Europe’s largest telecoms operators claimed that Apple’s iMessage service complies with the standards of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and should therefore be subject to the regulation. constraints to “benefit European consumers and businesses”.
Google, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica and France Telecom said in the letter that iMessage’s “fundamental nature” as an “important gateway between business users and their customers” is undoubtedly a reason to designate it as a “gatekeeper” “.
Apple declined to comment on the report but pointed to a previous statement saying: “iMessage is a great service that Apple users love because it provides an easy way to communicate with friends and family. while delivering industry-leading privacy and security. Today, consumers have access to multiple messaging apps, often using more than one at the same time, which reflects how easily they can switch between them. iMessage is designed for personal consumer communications and We look forward to explaining to the committee why iMessage is not within the scope of the DMA.”
Apple objected to EU regulators labelling it a “gatekeeper” in September before the EU announced the first list of services regulated by DMA. The bill introduces new rules that apply to what are considered core platform services and forces them to open their various services and platforms to other companies and developers. For example, Apple may be forced to allow third-party companies and rival apps, such as Meta’s WhatsApp, to integrate directly with iMessage.
However, Apple argued that iMessage did not have the required number of users for the DMA rules to apply and therefore should not be forced to comply with it. “Due to its small size relative to other messaging services, iMessage does not constitute significant access to end users for commercial users within the EU.” aisle.”
Analysts estimate that iMessage has as many as 1 billion users worldwide, but Apple hasn’t released any official data about the service in years. Whether iMessage will be included on the EU’s initial list of “gatekeeper” services will depend on how it defines the market it operates in.
The EU investigation into iMessage is still ongoing, with the European Commission expected to decide by February next year.
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