EU Won the Battle, Apple Won the War

Apple’s App Store monopoly is history. The EU has ruled and Apple has complied. Who won? As it turns out, this is the wrong question to ask. There is no winner. The question is more like ‘who lost’?

It’s a fascinating story about big power, big money, big egos and misguided objectives — with potential consequences for millions of users. The starting point is monopolies, which the EU — like most western governments — has declared illegal, or at least undesirable. Unless they — the politicians/bureaucrats — control the monopolies.

The next — and current — level is regulation of big tech, because the old definition of monopolies don’t work well in the digital age. And — as is often the case — the intentions were good: Protecting the customers/users and ensuring that competition works and works fairly. Thus the DMA — EU’s Digital Markets Act, passed in 2022 — placed Apple’s App Store squarely in the crosshairs. Not the only target by far, but the most visible one and thus the one getting the most attention.

Regulation is always a delicate balance. Monopolies, including the modern variants like Apple’s ‘walled garden’, have important advantages. In this particular case, Apple protects customers and products by rigorous screening at the gates of the ‘garden’, which makes Apple’s ecosystem, as it is frequently referred to, more secure…