![]() ![]() In a press release it claims the enforced change “means that EU users will be confronted with a list of default browsers before they have the opportunity to understand the options available to them”. The iPhone maker is clearly unhappy about the obligation to display a browser choice screen. ![]() The deadline for gatekeepers’ compliance with the DMA is March 7 so the changes are expected to be operational by then. So how exactly Apple will present information about rival browsers remains to be seen. In a briefing the journalists yesterday, Apple representatives said that when users in the European Union open Safari for the first time after they update to iOS 17.4 they will be prompted to choose a default browser from a list of the most downloaded browsers in their market.Īpple’s reps said the screen will also provide an opportunity for users to learn more about each browser before making a decision. So it’s no surprise that Apple’s DMA-related changes include the provision of a choice screen. The regulation then essentially stipulates that gatekeepers must show a choice screen at users’ first use of a core platform service - letting them choose from a list of “main” rival service providers. ![]() Furthermore, the text states gatekeepers must let users “easily change default settings”. Default browser choice screenĪrticle 6(3) of the pan-EU regulation puts obligations on gatekeepers to let users “easily un-install” their own apps (with some narrow restrictions for apps that are “essential for the functioning of the operating system or of the device and which cannot technically be offered on a standalone basis by third parties”). This is the sort of lock-in EU regulators hope the DMA will change. But the upshot is the owner and operator of a dominant mobile platform can also dominate in mobile browsing software on their platform which isn’t great news for competition. Apple is one of six designated gatekeepers, with its iOS App Store and Safari browser listed as “core platform services” under the regulation - meaning Apple is subject to set of obligations and restrictions on how it can operate these services.Ĭurrently, Apple sets its Safari browser as the default on iOS - and while users of its mobile platform can dig into settings and specify another default browser (if they’ve downloaded one) Apple’s platform does not exactly make it obvious to iOS users that this is a possibility.Ī lot of people will, inevitably, stick with iOS defaults - just because it’s less effort and hassle aka, one less tech-related decision to make. The goal for the EU regulation is exactly that: To force digital markets that are dominated by a handful of powerful intermediaries, which the DMA calls “gatekeepers”, to be more open and welcoming to competition. The raft of iOS changes Apple dropped in the European Union yesterday, as it prepares for enforcement of the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) to kick in March 7, include some big developments around browsers that look set to shake up a pretty stale market. ![]()
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