Vestager urged Apple not to use the words privacy and security as a shield to restrict competition.
Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition and Vice President for the Digital Age Cautious Apple last weekend isn’t using privacy and security concerns to limit competition and rivals to the App Store (Tim Cook said these are the two reasons users can’t install apps outside of the App Store).
Led by Vestager, a draft called DMA was drawn up last year that would force Apple to open the App Store and allow users to download apps from the internet or third-party app stores.
Tim Cook said the draft, in its current form, would destroy the security of iPhones. Vestager has now indicated that he shares Cook’s concerns about security, saying that security and privacy are very important to everyone.
The important thing, Vestager added, is that it is not used to constrain competition. According to him, consumers will not give up security or privacy if they use another app store or sideload. The Commissioner indicated that they were open to amending the draft and looking for solutions.
Vestager also talked about how Apple’s privacy changes aren’t in the crosshairs just yet (on iOS, which was supposed to limit ad tracking). He thinks the good thing is that we can easily set our service preferences to see if we want the app to follow when not in use – as long as that condition is met by everyone. He says there’s no reason to assume this will be any different for Apple.
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