After an investigation lasting approximately eight months, the European Commission stated that iPadOSthe operating system of Apple’s iPads, is to be understood as a “Gatekeeper” service and for this reason it must absolutely be adapted to Digital Markets Act (DMA). Therefore, in the future, in European Union countries, applications from third-party digital stores will also be able to be installed on the iPad.
iPadOS is an important gateway: after iPhone, iPad is also changing
The Digital Markets Act is a set of rules established by the European Commission to reduce the power of gatekeepers in consumers’ final choices, therefore throughout the reference market. Well, as mentioned above, after the necessary investigations the European Commission has established that iPadOS also falls into this category and that, consequently, it must be modified to meet the requirements of the DMA.
From the investigation in question it emerged that the number of Apple business users exceeded the quantitative threshold eleven times, while that of end users is very close to the threshold and will certainly increase in the immediate future. It then turned out that end users as well as enterprise users are locked into iPadOS because Apple uses its ecosystem to discourage the transition to other operating systems.
In light of this, the European Commission has made its decision, so now Apple has six months to ensure full compliance of iPadOS with legislation which, in the EU, has already partially revolutionized the use of iPhones. Among various things, the Cupertino company will have to allow the download of applications from alternative marketplaceschoosing the default browser and uninstalling all preloaded applications.
«The DMA is a dynamic tool that allows us to address the realities of digital markets. […] Our market research has shown that, despite not meeting the thresholds, iPadOS represents an important gateway that many companies rely on to reach their customers», declared Margrethe Vestager, head of the EU antitrust. «Today’s decision will ensure that fairness and contestability are also guaranteed on this platform».