Google and major European carriers ask the EU to make iMessage a core platform service

Google has rallied the support of top European carriers to send a letter to the European Commission, asking it to designate Apple's iMessage as a "core platform service". This would force Apple to make iMessage compatible with RCS like WhatsApp and Google Messages by March 2024.

Per a Financial Times report, Google, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, and Orange are behind the request.

Here's some background on the issue. In August, the EU entered its Digital Markets Act (DMA) into force to ensure a higher degree of competition in the EU digital market by regulating the power of larger companies. The regulation refers to large entities as gatekeepers - large digital platforms with over 45 million active users in the EU and €7.5 billion annual revenue. If Apple's iMessage is found as such a platform, Apple would have to make it cross-compatible with other messaging platforms by March 2024. But Apple has argued that iMessage doesn't have 45 million active users in the EU and thus doesn't meet the criteria.

Google and the top European carriers argue that iMessage meets the Digital Markets Act's criteria, and want the European Commission to require Apple to open it for interoperation with other messaging apps. The EU's regulatory authority is investigating iMessage under the assumption that it contributes to Apple's revenue indirectly.

The decision will be made by February 2024, and if iMessage is deemed a core service, Apple would need to end the whole green-bubble-blue-bubble problem in the EU once and for all.

Source (paywalled)