The European Union’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager is set to hold a meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook in the United States next week. Vestager will also talk with CEOs of other big tech companies including Google’s Alphabet, Nvidia, and Broadcom (via Reuters).
The nature of the talks is likely to revolve around anticompetitive practices ushered in by big tech in addition to the Union’s market regulating Digital Markets Act (DMA), which will officially go into effect this year. Vestager, whose full title is Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age, will also meet with two senior OpenAI executives who hold the company’s Chief Technology Officer and Chief Strategy Officer roles respectively.
The talks with Tim Cook could also discuss Apple’s apparent willingness to open up the NFC platform on the iPhone for banks and other financial firms to develop Apple Pay competitors, Reuters adds. The European Commission will look into Apple’s offer this month after it hears from the competitors in question, with a final decision to follow soon after. The planned meetings will take place in San Francisco and Palo Alto between next Thursday and Friday.
Vestager’s meeting with Alphabet on January 11 will coincide with an advisor to Europe’s highest court providing a non-binding recommendation regarding whether judges should approve or dismiss Google’s appeal against a €2.42 billion ($2.6 billion) EU antitrust fine. This fine was imposed due to anticompetitive market abuse linked to Google’s shopping service. The Mountain View company recently lost a similar case against Epic Games over its Play Store practices, which were deemed monopolistic and resulted in a $700 million fine.
Last year, Apple confirmed its “gatekeeper” status to the EU. Under the DMA, companies will also be required to allow users to easily remove pre-installed apps, as well as end the prioritization of default apps and services over third-party ones. Finally, the DMA is set to force Apple to open up its platforms to third-party app stores and external payment providers.
The Union accepted Apple’s self-designation in September alongside Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and ByteDance. So far, the DMA will officially govern Safari, App Store, and iOS in its entirety alongside several services offered by Apple’s competitors as confirmed earlier.
