The new law could lead to significant changes in what people can do with their devices, services and apps. The trend is likely to spread to the US and other parts of the world over time, as it is not very profitable for companies to divide their products into several different versions.

what awaits us

Gerard de Graaf, the politician who helped pass the DMA law, says large corporations will now be forced to “open their walled gardens”. Last month, de Graaf became the director of a new EU office in San Francisco, created in part to explain the effects of the law to Big Tech companies.

If you have an iPhone, you should be able to download apps not only from the App Store, but also from other app stores or the Internet,
– A European politician explains one of the articles of the law.

• DMA requires dominant platforms to accept smaller competitors and can force messengers to allow messages from competing apps. For example, you can send a message to someone on WhatsApp using Signal or Telegram and vice versa.
• Also, the law prohibits you from prioritizing your own apps and services. This way conditional Google will not be able to set the default search engine or apps.

everything is not so fast

The DMA goes into effect on November 1, but tech platforms don’t have to adapt right away. First, the EU must decide which companies are large enough market players for these rules to be applied to them. De Graaf expects at least a dozen companies to make the list. The list itself will not be announced before spring. These brands will have six months to align their activities with the new requirements.