In a major legal blow to Big Tech, the General Court of the European Union has dismissed Apple’s appeals against the European Commission, firmly upholding the tech giant’s designation as a “gatekeeper” for both its App Store and iOS operating system.
The ruling cements the Commission’s September 2023 decision under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a landmark regulatory framework designed to curb the market dominance of massive digital platforms. By maintaining Apple’s gatekeeper status, the court ensures that Apple remains bound by strict EU obligations aimed at fostering fair competition, preventing anti-competitive self-preferencing, and opening its tightly controlled ecosystem to rival services.
App Store Declared a Single, Massive Gateway
A central pillar of Apple’s legal challenge was the argument that its application stores should be viewed as distinct, separate entities based on the device they serve—such as the iOS App Store for iPhones, alongside separate stores for iPads, Macs, Apple Watches, and Apple TVs. Apple contended that only the iPhone store met the massive size and user thresholds required for a DMA gatekeeper designation.
The General Court flatly rejected this segmentation. The judges ruled that the various storefronts constitute a single “Core Platform Service” (CPS). The court emphasized that regardless of whether a user is on a tablet, watch, or television, the fundamental purpose of the App Store remains identical: acting as an indispensable intermediary that connects app developers with end users. The physical differences between the devices, the court found, did not justify breaking the App Store ecosystem into isolated legal pieces.
The iMessage Technicality
While Apple failed to shake off regulations for its app ecosystem, the court delivered a mixed but legally insignificant outcome regarding iMessage. Apple had heavily contested the Commission’s classification of iMessage as a number-independent interpersonal communications service that constitutes a core platform service.
However, because the Commission ultimately decided in February 2024 not to label Apple as a gatekeeper specifically for iMessage, the General Court threw out Apple’s complaints on this front as inadmissible. The court noted that since iMessage was never officially listed as an “important gateway” subject to DMA restrictions, the classification itself carries no binding legal penalties or changes to Apple’s operational obligations.
Apple now faces a tight operational reality in Europe under the DMA, though it retains the right to appeal points of law to the EU’s highest court, the Court of Justice, within the next two months.