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Title: Apple Faces Billions in Losses as EU Comma Interpretation Ends
External Purchase Fees

Link: https://apple.slashdot.org/story/25/06/06/163...

Apple will lose the ability to collect commissions on external iOS purchases
in Europe starting June 23, following a European Commission ruling that
hinges on the grammatical interpretation of a single comma in the Digital
Markets Act. The dispute centers on Article 5.4, which requires gatekeepers
to allow business users "free of charge, to communicate and promote offers,
including under different conditions [...], and to conclude contracts with
those end users." Apple contends that "free of charge" applies only to
communication and promotion activities, not contract conclusion, allowing the
company to maintain its commission structure on external transactions. The
European Commission interprets the comma before "and to conclude contracts"
as creating an enumeration where the free-of-charge requirement applies to
all listed activities, including purchases made outside Apple's payment
system. Under the new ruling, Apple can collect commissions only on the first
external transaction between users and developers, with all subsequent
purchases and auto-renewed subscriptions exempt from fees. The company faces
daily penalties of up to $53.5 million for non-compliance and has already
been fined $570 million. Apple's internal forecasts estimate potential annual
losses of "hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars" in the US alone,
though Europe demands stricter changes than those projections assumed.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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