Andrew Orr
European Union regulators have amended the Digital Markets Act to include new provisions that would compel Apple to make iMessage accessible.
The European Council approved the Act in July 2022, a year after it was proposed. It enters into force on May 2, 2023.
The Digital Markets Act contains many restrictions to prevent major tech firms like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google from engaging in anticompetitive activities. For instance, the lawmakers want Apple to allow iPhone users to download apps from outside of the App Store.
The EU is also going after Apple to let third-party iOS browsers use their own rendering engines, as the tech giant currently requires developers to use its WebKit engine from Safari.
The European Parliament and Council still need to approve this aspect of the legislation with lawyers, and then in a final vote. Passage is likely.
Messaging provisions
The most extensive messaging services, such as iMessage, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp, will have to open up and interoperate with smaller messaging platforms.
The result would be allowing users to exchange messages, send files or make video calls across messaging apps. While this is possible through SMS texting, Apple's iMessage service only works on Apple devices.
It's why Apple users might sometimes see green bubbles in the Messages app to denote an SMS text. The iMessage service is a significant reason for the iPhone's popularity among young people in the US, for example.
Apple knows that the exclusivity of iMessage is a significant selling point for the iPhone and has avoided bringing it to Android as a possible reason.
The changes might not be limited to Europe, either. Other countries sometimes follow suit with similar legislation, and it's often easier for companies to apply the changes worldwide.
AppleInsider Staff
Malcolm Owen
Oliver Haslam
Andrew O'Hara
Wesley Hilliard
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
103 Comments
This is daft.
Its liking saying to UPS, here is a fedex package, deliver it.
We are living in a crappy world where innovation can be stolen by the government and then given away. Why create competitive advantages when your competitors can get them for free. Should this happen I hope Apple will allow us to block these other services. I'll accept SMS, but have no interest in getting crap from Facebook, WhatsApp, etc. I do not use these services and anyone who knows me knows my iMessage. Nothing could be worse than getting spam from third party services.
I hope the EU is planning to pay Apple to provide this service
I hope this back fires on the EU. Also, the they have to make sure they don’t violate apple IP. Cause this will give apple grounds for law suits. I HOPE this works in apple favor. I can case apple building devices where the law does not apply .