blue bubbles are safe from interference for now. European Union officials after the investigation that — in association with Microsoft , and Microsoft Advertising — do not have a sufficiently dominant position in their respective markets to be subject to stricter regulation under the Digital Markets Act. If iMessage were to conform to DMA rules, Apple would have to make it interoperable with other messaging services.
Three products and meet the quantity limits for regulation under the iMessage DMA. Apple and Microsoft clear the law easily whereas each of the four platform services in question has at least 45 million monthly active users in the EU, and north of 10,000 annual active business users in the bloc.
However, companies have argued that iMessage, Bing and others are not suitable as gatekeeper services. In Apple’s case, it argued that iMessage was “small scale compared to other messaging services” and other factors meant it needed to avoid DMA rules. Despite Google and mobile operators The block ultimately sided with Apple to designate iMessage as a gatekeeper service. Still, the EU’s executive arm noted that it “will continue to monitor market developments for these services should any substantial changes occur.”
While the EU won’t force iMessage to play nice with other messaging services, Apple has opened the door for interoperability. There is a company to support starting this year, that means messaging between iMessage and Android should be more secure and feature-rich. However, RCS texts will still be in green bubbles, not the blue color of iMessage missions.
Meanwhile, Apple and Microsoft haven’t completely shirked DMA’s clutch ahead of the rules that take effect on March 7. Some of their other products include Windows and LinkedIn on Microsoft’s side, and Safari on iOS, the App Store, and Apple’s case. Meta, Google, Amazon and TikTok parent ByteDance are also needed . Note that the EU has designated Meta’s Messenger and WhatsApp as gatekeeper services, meaning they will be needed .
Apple recently revealed how this will work , including third-party payment options, although competitors are demanding that the company enforce DMA rules. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney for adding “new garbage fees on downloads and new Apple taxes on payments they don’t process.”
