The decisions concluded the Commission’s investigations opened following the notification by Apple and Microsoft in July 2023 of the core platform services that met the quantitative thresholds. Among these notified services were also the four services concerned by today’s decision. Together with the notifications, Apple and Microsoft also submitted so-called “rebuttal” arguments, explaining why despite meeting the qualitative thresholds, these four core platform services should not, in their view, qualify as gateways.
In its decision of 5 September 2023, the Commission considered the rebuttal requests made by Apple and Microsoft deserved an in-depth analysis. Following a thorough assessment of all arguments, taking into account input by relevant stakeholders, and after hearing the Digital Markets Advisory Committee, the Commission found that iMessage, Bing, Edge, and Microsoft Advertising do not qualify as gatekeeper services.
The Commission will continue to monitor the developments on the market with respect to these services, should any substantial changes arise. The decisions do not affect in any way the designation of Apple and Microsoft as gatekeepers on 5 September 2023 as regards to their other platform services.
Engadget reported Apple’s blue bubbles are safe from interlopers for now. Following an investigation, European Union officials have determined that iMessage — along with Microsoft’s Bing, Edge, and Microsoft Advertising – don’t hold a dominant enough position in their respective markets to be subject to stricter regulation under the Digital Markets Act. Were iMessage to be brought under the DMA rules, Apple would need to make it interoperable with other messaging services.
The three Microsoft products and iMessage meet the qualitative thresholds for regulation under DMA. Apple and Microsoft easily clear the law’s revenue and market capitalization thresholds, while the four platform services in question have at least 45 million monthly active users in EU and north of 10,000 yearly active business users in the bloc.
While the EU won’t force iMessage to play nicely with other messaging services, Apple has creaked open the door to interoperability. The company has pledged to support the RCS messaging standard starting this year, meaning that messaging between iMessage and Android should be more secure and feature-rich. RCS texts will still be in green bubbles, however, rather than the blue of iMessage missives.
Overall, it appears that the EU’s decision that Apple and Microsoft are not gatekeepers is a good thing. It likely means that the EU is not going to enact harsh penalties on either company (at least, not right away).