Overview
- The European Commission said Apple Ads and Apple Maps likely meet the Digital Markets Act thresholds and started a 45‑working‑day assessment.
- Apple filed official rebuttals arguing the services lack market dominance in Europe, citing minimal ad share versus Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok and X and limited Maps usage versus Google Maps and Waze.
- If either service is designated as a gatekeeper, Apple will have six months to implement required changes under the DMA.
- The DMA’s quantitative thresholds include at least 45 million monthly active users and a company market capitalization of €75 billion.
- Apple’s App Store, iOS and Safari were previously designated under the DMA, which has already compelled EU‑specific changes to its platform rules.