Dutch antitrust regulator orders Apple to let dating apps in the App Store offer alternative payment systems by January 15 or face up to a €50M fine
The Netherlands' top competition regulator on Friday said Apple Inc (AAPL.O) broke the country's competition laws and ordered changes …
Reuters
Context & Ripple Effects
The Dutch regulator’s order makes dating apps the test case for constraining Apple’s control over App Store payments in one national market. Follow-up coverage shows Apple moving to comply by the deadline, then characterizing the required App Store adjustments as a minor technical change.
First-order effects
Apple must change its App Store payment rules for Dutch dating-app developers or face the regulator’s stated fine exposure.
Dutch dating-app developers gain permission to offer payment options outside Apple’s in-app purchase system.
Second-order effects
Implementation becomes the next enforcement battleground: Apple’s later commitment to alternative payment options narrows the dispute from whether it must comply to whether its technical terms satisfy the Dutch regulator.
The carveout puts Apple’s payment rules, rather than app distribution alone, at the center of the regulator’s competition remedy.
Third-order effects
If this category-by-country approach holds, regulators can chip away at platform payment control through targeted mandates instead of requiring an immediate App Store-wide redesign.
Apple’s App Store business would face a more fragmented rulebook, with payment access shaped by local enforcement of platform gatekeeper power.
The trend: App-store regulation is moving toward targeted payment-choice remedies that test platform gatekeepers market by market.
The patchwork of payments requirements from various countries' regulatory bodies is more sustainable for Apple than for developers. Most recently: Netherlands competition board rules that Apple must allow *dating apps* to use alternative payments methods https://www.reuters.com/.…
Note: this is a big win for Match Group, which you probably know better thanks to @Tinder — company has been part of a growing coalition anti app store-practices. South Korea was another win for them, as we reported in November: https://pro.politico.eu/... https://twitter.com/...
Not the Christmas gift Apple hoped it would get: Dutch competition authority orders App Store tweaks, including using other payment systems than Apple's systems. https://www.acm.nl/...
(1) Incredible Christmas gift for those fighting for fair treament of app developers by @Apple. Rotterdam court rules that the @AutoriteitCM was right to find the obligation for dating apps providers to use Apple's in app payment solution breaches Article 102 TFEU. @appfairness
Big Tech monopolies are holding the digital marketplace hostage. My antitrust bills restore competition without overextending the government's control over the market. https://www.reuters.com/...
“Today's Rotterdam Court ruling confirms that the ACM was right to find that the obligation imposed by Apple on dating app developers to use its in-app payment system (IAP) breaches EU and Dutch competition law.” Read our full statement: https://appfairness.org/...
The App Store being declared an abusive monopoly across various countries (Russia, Japan, Netherlands, etc) seems unlikely to get Apple to ease off choking the creator economy by collecting 30% tax for IAPs. They're appealing every case & resisting hard. https://www.reuters.com/.…
2/ It's cumbersome and inconvenient for app developers to implement payments methods for various countries (especially small countries like NL). I dont see these country-level rulings as cumulatively putting pressure on Apple to implement a new global policy
I'd assumed the brand tarnish of leaked emails and being declared an abusive monopoly on every continent would cause Apple to yield on the 30% cut but I was wrong. With iPhone sales plateaued, squeezing money out of app developers is a revenue growth strategy they can't give up.