Some go on vacation, and others go off fighting digital giants such as Microsoft and Apple

Concerning Microsoft – the Commission, alleges that the company abuses dominates the global market for SaaS by tying the Teams communications platform with the popular productivity applications included in its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 business software packages.

Microsoft may have given Teams a distribution advantage by not letting customers choose whether or not they want Teams access when they subscribe to its SaaS productivity apps. This advantage may have been further exacerbated by limiting interoperability between Teams’ competitors and Microsoft’s offerings. Doing so may prevent Teams’ rivals from competing and, thus, amount to innovation to the detriment of customers in the EEA.

concerning Apple –  the Commission opened an investigation into non-compliance with Apple’s new Developer Terms as a condition for access to certain new features provided for in the Digital Markets Act.

The above is, first and foremost, about providing alternative app stores or the possibility of offering applications through an alternative distribution channel. Apple has, so far, kept in place the possibility of subscribing under the previous terms, but these conditions did not allow for alternative distribution channels at all.

It is worth following the Commission’s progress on these cases, because the outcomes may affect many of us