After a five-month investigation, European Commission (EC) supervisory agencies have determined that iMessage is safe from European Union (EU) antitrust regulations.
According to Bloomberg, iMessage is one of Apple’s services that has been in the EU’s sights regarding antitrust regulations for many months, alongside the App Store and Safari browser on iOS. Among these, iMessage is the first service investigated by the EU.
The results of the EC’s five-month investigation showed that iMessage “is not too popular in the region”. This means Apple’s mobile messaging service will be safe from an antitrust investigation, at least for now.
The lack of popularity of iMessage in the EU is quite different from what it is in the US, where the service is “extremely popular”, especially when considering the corporate sector. Sources said that iMessage is not used much in business activities in the EU, so investigators believe that the service “does not qualify to be an important gateway for business customers”.
It should be noted that the EC investigation is expected to end in February 2024, so there is still time for the commission to change its decision. During this process, the EC will also consider services from other technology giants such as Microsoft and Meta. According to the disclosure, some companies have asked the EC to carefully check whether their services are protected by Tao Digital Market Law (DMA) or not.
Apple admitted in financial filings last month that it would have to open its platform to rival app stores. According to the plan, the company will do this next year.