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Not just the Digital Services Act: all Apple’s troubles in Europe

8 months ago babelfish

Not just the Digital Services Act: all Apple's troubles in Europe

Europe asks Apple to respect new competition rules. Meanwhile, the Cupertino group releases the update in record time to unlock the smartphone model held hostage by Paris

There are numerous problems that the Old Continent is reserving for Apple, from the obligation to comply with the Digital Services Act to Paris' nationwide sales ban on the iPhone 12 because the device would release too much radiation. But let's go in order.

THE UPDATE FOR THE iPhone 12

At least the French problem that removed the iPhone 12 from shop windows and shelves for a few days due to exceeding the electromagnetic limits detected by the authorities could soon be behind us: Apple has in fact released a software update in record time that should solve the problem .

This despite Cupertino having disputed the French conclusions, stating that the iPhone 12 had been certified by numerous international organizations which deemed it compliant with global standards.

THE FRENCH AFFAIR

Naturally, the simple update is not enough to resolve the issue: first, the French government says, the national authorities will have to verify that it works as claimed by the giant founded by Steve Jobs .

In mid-September, the French frequency agency Anfr had forced Apple to withdraw the model from the market due to levels of electromagnetic radiation that were too high compared to the limits in force, threatening to impose a product recall in the event of a failure to update the device. the bad habit.

INVESTIGATIONS ON THE iPHONE 12

The Anfr's decision was made on the basis of checks carried out on 141 mobile phone models, including the iPhone 12. The Apple device demonstrated an absorption of electromagnetic energy equal to 5.74 watts per kg, higher than the standard of 'European Union of 4 watts per kg, when the phone is held in the hand.

However, the threshold was found to be within the norm when radiation levels were assessed for a phone kept in a jacket or bag. In the French wake, Germany and Belgium have decided to launch investigations and other states could follow suit.

WHAT EUROPE ASKS OF APPLE

And then there is the issue, at a European level, of respect for competition. This was discussed by the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton , and the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook , who met in Brussels to take stock of the US giant's compliance plan with the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

THE OLD EU TRIES TO KEEP THE SIX GATEKEEPERS AT BAY

Apple is in fact one of the 6 gatekeepers identified by the Commission together with Alphabet, Amazon, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft: platforms with a consolidated and long-lasting position that have a significant impact on the internal market, representing an important access point that allows commercial users to reach its end users.

Hence the need for new rules aimed at preventing gatekeepers from imposing unfair conditions on businesses and end users to ensure that important digital services are open. Among the various impositions that the EU is making on gatekeepers is the possibility for users to uninstall pre-installed applications which will be accompanied by a ban on giants from automatically installing applications and offering the possibility of choice.

At the same time, they will need to provide business users with access to campaign performance data and ad pricing information, allow developers to use alternative in-app payment systems, and offer interoperability options for messaging systems .

EUROPE AND APPLE: TESTS OF DIALOGUE

The French commissioner reiterated that "EU regulation promotes innovation, without compromising security and privacy", but above all he reminded Apple that "with 450 million citizens" old Europe "is an important and attractive market ” given that in the USA there are 332 million inhabitants.

– Read also: Apple dominates in apps? The Antitrust investigates

The community line is clear: "Whether it is" services such as "the electronic wallet, browsers or app stores, consumers who use an Apple iPhone should be able to benefit from competitive services from multiple suppliers", explained Breton.

THE USB-C PORT OF THE iPHONE 15

Demonstrating the usefulness of the EU regulation, Breton recalled that with the European regulations on chargers "the mess of cables will be a thing of the past" and approved Apple's choice to equip the iPhone 15 with the USB-C port, which as is known, from next year it will be the only one allowed in Europe for chargers of electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets, cameras and headphones, while from spring 2026 the obligation will extend to laptops.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/digital-services-act-al-divieto-iphone-12-apple-europa/ on Wed, 27 Sep 2023 10:14:10 +0000.