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Meanwhile, Thierry Breton said the EU is investigating Apple’s cancellation of an Epic Games account saying there is ‘no room for threats to silence developers’.
Apple has said it will allow EU users to completely delete the Safari web browser from iOS devices should they wish to by the end of this year.
The decision is part of Apple’s attempts to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) – which came into effect yesterday – and make its ecosystem more open and competition-friendly.
Earlier this week, for instance, the iPhone maker allowed EU users to download alternative app stores as part of the latest iOS 17.4 update.
In a summary of its DMA compliance published yesterday (7 March), the company said that it has already increased choice within its ecosystem by introducing a choice screen that gives users additional ways of choosing a default web browser.
“Already today, Apple users have the ability to remove preinstalled apps from their Home Screen on iOS,” Apple wrote. “When users in the EU first open Safari on iOS 17.4, they are prompted to choose their default browser and [are] presented with a list of the main web browsers available in their market to select as their default browser.”
It also plans to introduce a new default control for users in Settings for navigation apps, which is expected to be available by March 2025.
Meanwhile, EU internal markets chief Thierry Breton has said that the bloc is investigating Apple’s decision to cancel an account Epic Games intended to use to develop an app store for iOS.
🚨Under the #DMA, there is no room for threats by gatekeepers to silence developers.
I have asked our services to look into Apple’s termination of Epic’s developer account as a matter of priority.
To all developers in 🇪🇺 & 🌍: now is the time to have your say on gatekeepers’…
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) March 7, 2024
The Epic Games Sweden developer account approved by Apple last month would have allowed the company to bring its app store and Fortnite to iOS devices in Europe.
“Under the DMA, there is no room for threats by gatekeepers to silence developers,” Breton posted on X yesterday.
“I have asked our services to look into Apple’s termination of Epic’s developer account as a matter of priority. To all developers in [the EU and the world] now is the time to have your say on gatekeepers’ compliance solutions!”
In a statement published this week, Epic said that the termination of this account is a “serious violation” of the DMA and shows Apple has “no intention of allowing true competition” on iOS devices.
“In terminating Epic’s developer account, Apple is taking out one of the largest potential competitors to the Apple App Store,” the company said.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeny, who has been an outspoken critic of Apple’s allegedly “malicious” means to comply with the DMA, increased his rhetoric following the account closure, claiming the company is using fear to bypass EU rules and prevent competition.
“Apple is doing everything they can to sow fear so that, even if they’re forced to end this blockade, every developer will know Apple can crush any of us on a whim, and therefore that competition is futile,” he said in a post on X.
“It’s a sad slope for the world’s most respected company to be slipping down, but slipping it is, and it’s a long way down.”
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