Newsletter
Apple’s iMessage and Microsoft’s Bing escaped the scrutiny of the European Union’s new Digital Markets Act by the skin of their teeth. The investigation by the regulator found that both platforms do not hold a dominant enough position to be brought under the DMA’s strict rules for services provided by big tech’s “gatekeepers,” which include Apple, Meta, Google, Amazon, and TikTok.
Of course, Apple and Microsoft both said that they welcomed the decision. Neither one wants to be forced to be interoperable with their competitors, especially Apple.
The Digital Markets Act, or DMA, has already forced big changes for Apple. Including forcing the iPhone to switch to USB-C last year, bringing sideloading to iOS 17.4, and allowing browsers to use different engines for the iPhone. Which is going to allow browsers like Edge, Chrome, and Firefox to be more than just a Safari skin. The interoperability rules would have meant that Meta apps like WhatsApp could request to interoperate with Apple’s iMessage framework.
Does this mean Apple might backtrack on RCS support?
Late last year, Apple announced that it was going to add support for the universal profile of RCS on iMessage starting in late 2024. This decision was made based on the European Union and the new Digital Markets Act, where it was going to be forced to be interoperable. But now that this investigation has finished, and iMessage doesn’t fall under the “gatekeepers,” does that mean Apple might backtrack?
It’s possible that they might. Apple sees iMessage as a big part of the walled garden for keeping its users on the iPhone instead of jumping ship over to Android. But at this point, Apple has already been working on bringing RCS over, so they could stick with the original plan. We do expect to see it launch as part of iOS 18, which should launch in June at WWDC.