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Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is challenging an order from the European Commission directing it to make its operating system, iOS, more compatible with competitor tech companies’ products under the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
In March, the regulator said that the company has to take steps to comply with certain aspects of its interoperability obligation, which would enable “a deeper and more seamless integration of third-party products with Apple’s ecosystem.”
On May 30, Apple filed an appeal against that decision to the EU’s General Court in Luxembourg, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
“At Apple, we design our technology to work seamlessly together, so it can deliver the unique experience our users love and expect from our products. The EU’s interoperability requirements threaten that foundation, while creating a process that is unreasonable, costly, and stifles innovation. These requirements will also hand data-hungry companies sensitive information, which poses massive privacy and security risks to our EU users,” said a spokesperson for Apple in an email to Seeking Alpha.
The spokesperson added that the deeply flawed rules only target Apple, and no other company, will severely limit the company’s ability to deliver innovative products and features to Europe, leading to an inferior user experience for our European customers.
“Companies have already requested our users’ most sensitive data — from the content of their notifications, to a full history of every stored WiFi network on their device — giving them the ability to access personal information that even Apple doesn’t see,” the spokesperson noted. “We are appealing these decisions on their behalf, and in order to preserve the high-quality experience our European customers expect.”
The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.