The European Union will not meddle with Apple’s iMessage app and force it to be interoperable with other third-party messaging services.
The European Commission has today announced it has closed an investigation into whether iMessage – as well as Microsoft’s the Bing search engine and Edge browser – should be classed as “gatekeeper services.” And the verdict came out in favour of the tech companies.
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It means iMessage can continue as a separate entity without having to open up to other services like WhatsApp, Google Messages, et al. That would have muddied the waters significantly with potential security implications for iPhone users.
Apple had argued that because most mobile users use many different messaging apps that switching between them had become second nature.
“Consumers today have access to a wide variety of messaging apps, and often use many at once, which reflects how easy it is to switch between them,” an Apple spokesperson said (via Reuters).
If the decision had gone the other way, iMessage would have been subject to the same Digital Market Act rules as the App Store, which will soon be forced to accept third-party marketplaces and payment platforms.
It all boiled down to whether the services could prevent businesses from accessing consumers. In the case of the App Store, the EU decided “yes”. As for iMessage, it was a “no.”
“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 EU said in a news release on Tuesday.
The EU ruling may put that issue to bed with Apple very unlikely to open up iMessage voluntarily and regulators outside of the EU less likely to take up the issue.
