EU court rejects Apple's bid to take the App Store out of the Digital Markets Act
The EU General Court in Luxembourg has ruled against Apple in its challenge to how the App Store is treated under the Digital Markets Act. Apple had asked the court to remove the store from the law's scope.
Apple's central argument was that it does not operate one App Store but five separate ones, covering iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Watch. The court disagreed, finding that each version connects developers with users and distributes software, so the App Store remains a single regulated service.
A separate part of Apple's case concerned iMessage. The court called that objection inadmissible, because iMessage has not been designated as an important gateway and is therefore not currently regulated as a DMA gatekeeper service.