EU to join Epic in App Store actions

Apple looks set to be hit by charges in Europe over its App Store policies, just days before it is challenged in a California court on the same issue by Epic Games.

Javier Espinoza in Brussels reports Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition chief, will charge Apple this week with breaking EU law with its App Store rules. A complaint was brought two years ago by Spotify, the music streaming app, over the 30 per cent commission taken by Apple and it preventing apps from directing users to pay for subscriptions elsewhere. Brussels opened an official competition investigation last June, and if the iPhone maker is ultimately found guilty, it faces a fine of up to 10 per cent of global revenues.

Epic Games filed its own formal antitrust complaint against Apple to the European Commission in February and the Fortnite publisher’s court case begins in the Bay Area on Monday.

Separately, iPhone users can now download its latest operating system update, iOS 14.5, which will begin prompting users when they open apps whether they want to allow tracking of their activity across other apps and websites. Here’s our guide to what’s happening and the privacy implications.

Today’s Europe Express newsletter looks at the Irish data protection commissioner Helen Dixon, who has been accused of not being tough enough on Big Tech in ensuring the online privacy rights of hundreds of millions of Europeans. In a separate opinion piece, Francesca Bria, president of Italy’s National Innovation Fund, says the EU must be bold and defend its digital sovereignty.

The Internet of (Five) Things

1. Tesla profit margins disappoint
Tesla shares are down more than 4 per cent today after the electric carmaker reported profit margins that were below expectations, as it registered higher supply chain costs and lower average selling prices due to model transitions. Lex says $101m from bitcoin trading and $518m in sales of emissions credits to other vehicle makers helped it achieve profits of $438m. It faces new competition from Lotus, which has committed to building electric sports cars in the UK as part of a £2.5bn plan that will lead to a 10-fold rise in production

2. Lyft sells self-driving unit
Lyft has followed its US ride-sharing rival Uber in divesting its autonomous driving unit. Toyota will pay Lyft $200m upfront to take over the 300-strong group called “Level 5” and will pay another $350m over five years. Elsewhere, SK IE Technology, a unit of South Korean electric vehicle battery maker SK Innovation, has raised Won2.25tn ($2bn) in the country’s biggest initial public offering in four years.

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3. Eutelsat takes OneWeb stake
More competition for Elon Musk. European satellite operator Eutelsat is paying $550m for a 24 per cent stake in OneWeb, which competes with SpaceX’s Starlink in providing broadband from space. OneWeb said its plan to launch 648 first-generation satellites to deliver a global broadband service by next year was now 80 per cent funded.

4. DoorDash changes delivery commissions
The Diner Dash game gives Apple a 30 per cent cut, can DoorDash persuade real-life restaurateurs to give it the same? Dave Lee in San Francisco reports the biggest food delivery app in the US is shaking up the fees it charges per order. There are three new tiers of commission — 15, 25 or 30 per cent — with different levels of service, depending on whether the restaurants want to focus on “profitability or growth”.

5. Turkey’s crypto crackdown
At least four Turkish cryptocurrency platforms have gone offline since last week, with some claiming liquidity problems, after police began investigating fraud allegations connected to the exchanges and the central bank introduced measures to regulate the market for the first time.

Tech tools — Apple’s OS updates

While all the news has been about the new App Tracking Transparency tool on the iPhone, Apple has included a number of new features in operating system updates, not just for the handset, but also for the iPad, its watch, TV and Mac products. Apple highlights the “ability to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch while wearing a face mask, more diverse Siri voices, new privacy controls, skin tone options to better represent couples in emoji” in its iOS 14.5. TvOS 14.5 allows you to use your iPhone to colour balance your Apple TV content and adds support for the latest video game console controllers. MacRumors says macOS Big Sur‌ 11.3 adds additional customisation options for the Safari browser, introducing a way to rearrange the different sections on the Start Page like Favorites, Reading List, Siri Suggestions, Privacy Report, and more. All of the different updates are available now as free downloads.