Apple shouldn’t use privacy as an argument to thwart competitors. That says European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager. Still, she sometimes agrees with Apple’s privacy policies.
‘Apple, don’t use privacy to limit competition’
Vestager is involved in the European Commission’s lawsuit against Apple. The company would abuse its monopoly position in the App Store and thus violate European law. App developers must hand over up to 30 percent of their revenue to Apple.
The European Commissioner also finds the closed nature of Apple’s ecosystem a problem. Vestager says In an interview with Reuters that privacy and security are of great importance, but has a caveat. “It is of course important that privacy policy does not become a shield against competition. I don’t think Apple customers will give up their security or privacy if they download apps from another Appstore or if they can sideload apps.”
Sideloading is installing an app that you found outside of the usual digital stores. That is not possible on Apple devices. You can only download apps from the App Store.
However, Vestager is working on the so-called Digital Markets Act, which should ensure more competition. If this law is passed, Apple will soon be obliged to allow European users to install apps outside the App Store. Apple CEO Tim Cook is vehemently against this. He thinks iPhones will become much less secure if his company no longer monitors what apps people use.
‘Some measures Apple does make sense’
It may sound like Vestager is against Apple and against privacy, but it doesn’t seem to be that bad. Since iOS 14.5 you can turn off app tracking so that apps and websites can no longer track you. Vestager has no problem with it. ‘I think it’s a good idea if companies give us the choice whether we want to be followed or not. As long as the conditions are the same for everyone. We have no reason to believe that this is not the case.’
It is still unclear when exactly the EU will decide on the Digital Markets Act. The law will be introduced in 2023 at the earliest.
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