Tech giants, Apple and Microsoft, want their respective flagship services such as iMessage and Bing to be out of the European Union's (EU) gatekeeper list.
EU to Regulate Services
The EU legislation is keen to regulate services from big tech companies such as Apple and Microsoft. The regulation is in accordance with the Digital Markets Act which will require companies to share data, link their competitors, and make their services interoperable with other apps.
Report showed that the EU is set to publish the list of "gatekeeper" companies and services on September 6. Previously, seven tech companies have officially acknowledged that they fit the criteria and will be subjected to the list. The list includes: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft, and Samsung.
According to EU, companies who have a market capitalization more than €75 billion ($82 billion) and have 45 million active monthly users for apps in the EU region should be regulated.
Apple, Microsoft Battle for Their Services
Apple argued that iMessage should not be included in the list as the app is not popular enough to be a gatekeeper service. On the other hand, Microsoft argued that Bing is only used by a small percentage compare to its other search engine competitors such as Google.
Apple is reportedly working on various way to open iOS to third-party app stores. For other companies, once they are listed by EU, they will be given until six months or until March 2024 to comply with the Digital Markets Act's rules.
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