Apple racks up its fifth $5.7m file as Dutch consumer watchdog digs in

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What you need to know

  • Apple has been fined another $5.7 million by Dutch authorities.
  • Apple has still failed to comply to demands to make it possible for developers of dating apps to offer third-party payment systems.
  • Reuters believes Apple is yet to pay up for the previous four fines.

Apple continues to rack up the fines after a Dutch consumer watchdog fined it another 5 million euros ($5.7 million) today.

The fine represents the fifth successive week in which Apple has been told to hand over more cash for failing to comply with Dutch demands relating to App Store payments. The Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) says that Apple is abusing its position as the dominant player in the market and has told it to allow developers of dating apps to offer third-party payments. But so far, nothing Apple has done as satiated it — and unless it comes up with something by next week, it'll face another fine.

Apple was originally told to get its house in order and allow for third-party payments by January 15, something it didn't do. And despite making moves to allow it — including a 27% fee that some developers are less than happy about — it's still come up short, says Reuters.

The ACM has been levying weekly fines of 5 million euros since Apple missed a Jan. 15 deadline to make changes that the watchdog had mandated. read moreIt said the U.S. company had not made any new proposal to comply with its ruling in the past week."We have clearly explained to Apple how they can comply...," the watchdog said in a statement. "So far, however, they have refused to put forward any serious proposals." Apple declined comment on Monday.

Apple's plan to force developers to submit special versions of its apps that would be used only in the Dutch App Store has so far been denied by the ACM, saying that it puts an unreasonable burden on developers and does not amount to compliance.

What's more, the same report suggests that Apple is yet to pay the previous four fines, although it might just be seeing how far it can push things and then pay up via a single fee. How large that fee will be is anyone's guess at this point.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.