Apple wants Europe to blink on the Digital Markets Act

Apple has opened a new round of negotiations with Brussels over the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), the gatekeeper rulebook for major platforms. According to the Verge, the company is tying its Siri AI rollout — unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference — to uncertainty over how DMA compliance is being interpreted.

Apple's argument has two prongs. On one hand, it says DMA compliance may require it to deliver new features in Europe through different architectural approaches; on the other, it warns that 'overly restrictive' interpretations could cause some features to arrive late, or not at all, in the EU.

As the Verge reports, Apple is especially concerned about how Siri AI integrates with the iPhone experience. The DMA limits the ability of gatekeepers to give preferential access to their own products. But what 'preferential access' means in the Siri AI context is not crisp. The question of whether an assistant that reaches across system text, image and app data must expose the same APIs to third parties is still contested.

In a written statement to the Verge, Apple said it was 'unacceptable' for European users to end up as the last in the world to receive the newest features. The company said it remains in dialogue with the EU but argues the DMA framework needs to become more 'workable.'

The European Commission is uneasy about Apple's framing. Commission officials say the DMA is intended to strengthen competition and consumer choice, and that if features fail to ship in Europe, the reason lies in Apple's strategic choices rather than in the law. According to the Verge, the Commission said it is open to setting up technical-level working groups with Apple.

Apple has used similar tactics before, notably linking delays in iPadOS sideloading features directly to the DMA. The current dispute is being read as another attempt to strike a balance between 'early compliance' and 'softening the DMA.'

The user impact is concrete. According to the Verge, Siri AI's rollout in core markets like Germany, France, Spain and Italy could slip at least six months behind the United States and the United Kingdom. For European iPhone users that means paying the same money for the new AI-powered iOS experience while receiving less of it.

The developer impact is more complex. For third-party assistant developers, if Apple is forced to open Siri AI APIs under the DMA, the ecosystem could gain a new arena for competition. That would mean more direct access to iPhone users for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and specialized local providers.

The market reaction has been muted. Apple shares came under short-term pressure after the news but recovered during the day. Investors are treating the EU dispute as 'chronic but manageable'; the main risk is that a delay in the European market triggers cascading effects on the global product roadmap.

The Verge writes that the Commission plans to finish its review of Apple's DMA compliance documentation by the end of the summer. The outcome will set a precedent for both how Siri AI launches in Europe and how the EU manages gatekeepers more broadly. This is not investment advice.