Italy targets Apple's iCloud Apfelpatient

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Apple's list of regulatory conflicts in Europe is growing: Italy's competition authority is now investigating whether the company is unfairly favoring its iCloud service over competing cloud offerings. The case is not limited to Italy – the findings will be forwarded to the European Commission.

Apple faces regulatory pressure on several fronts in Europe, primarily stemming from the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and reflected in a growing list of features that are either missing or restricted in the EU. Now, a new front has emerged: According to a Reuters report, the Italian competition authority opened an investigation on Tuesday into whether Apple is unfairly favoring iCloud over third-party cloud services. This is Italy's first independent DMA investigation into the company.

The accusation: unequal access to cloud services

At the heart of the matter are the DMA's interoperability requirements. According to these requirements, Apple must ensure that third-party consumer cloud service providers can effectively and cost-free work with the hardware and software components that the company controls through iOS and iPadOS. Competing services should have the same access as Apple's own iCloud service.

The agency stated that it had evidence indicating that other providers of consumer cloud services could not achieve the same position as iCloud. According to the agency, they apparently do not have access to the same components that Apple uses or provides for its own service.

Why the case extends beyond Italy

The crucial point is the legal basis: Italy is not accusing Apple of violating national law, but rather of breaching EU-wide obligations under the Digital Markets Act. The DMA allows individual member states to conduct preliminary investigations and subsequently forward their findings to the European Commission.

Should the Italian authorities conclude that Apple is violating the DMA, the European Commission would then decide on possible measures. In this way, a national initiative could escalate into a Europe-wide procedure.

Part of a broader cartel front

The investigation is one of many antitrust proceedings Apple faces worldwide. In recent years, fines for various antitrust violations have totaled nearly three billion US dollars. The company typically responds to such allegations with a hard line, rarely admitting wrongdoing and, in some cases, threatening a partial or complete market withdrawal instead of complying with regulators' demands.

The extent of the conflict is also evident in the AI features of iOS 27: Apple did not activate them in the first developer beta within the EU. The EU demands that Apple grant third-party AI the same access to the iPhone as the new Siri – a demand the company rejects, citing security and data privacy concerns. This is one reason why the new Siri is not yet launching on iPhones and iPads in the EU. According to Apple, the European Commission has not even responded to a compromise proposal.

Why the DMA is becoming a recurring issue for Apple

The Italian initiative shows that pressure on Apple is not only coming from Brussels, but increasingly also from the member states – with the DMA serving as a common lever. For users in Europe, such proceedings indirectly determine how open the Apple ecosystem must be in the future and which services will be able to work on an equal footing with Apple's own offerings. However, it will likely be some time before a decision is reached, as the path from a national investigation to a potential measure by the EU Commission is a long one. (Image: Shutterstock / Joma_JOMANOX)