Apple iCloud DMA probe: Italy opens first case

Italy’s competition regulator has opened a Digital Markets Act probe into Apple (AAPL), testing whether rival cloud services can use the same iPhone and iPad backup features that underpin iCloud. The case appears to be Italy’s first DMA investigation into Apple, and it lands on a part of the company’s ecosystem that most users only notice when they move to a new device.

AGCM said it is examining whether Apple gives iCloud better interoperability with iOS and iPadOS than third-party consumer cloud services receive. The practical question is narrow: can a competing cloud provider plug into full backup and restore, or does Apple keep those system hooks for its own service?

The legal basis is Article 6(7) of the DMA, which requires gatekeepers to provide effective interoperability with hardware and software features. AGCM said it had opened a preliminary investigation under Article 38(7), the provision that lets national competition bodies help test possible DMA breaches.

“Apple does not allow alternative cloud storage services to use the iOS and iPadOS features enabling end users to perform a full backup of their devices’ data.”

AGCM, press release

Full-device backup is the point at issue. It carries photos, messages, app data and settings across to the next iPhone or iPad, which makes it central to the way people recover from an upgrade, a wiped handset or a lost device. Without access to the same hooks, a rival storage provider can look less useful even if it competes on price, privacy settings or storage features. That is why AGCM is treating iCloud backup as a switching-cost question rather than a minor convenience feature.

The issue is not confined to Europe. If regulators force changes to Apple’s global software stack, the result could affect Australian iPhone users who rely on backup, storage and device-migration tools. Local competition debates have often followed European tests of platform power, especially where user choice depends on how easily data can move.

Reuters reported that Apple pointed to its previous interoperability discussions with the European Commission. That is a likely plank in its defence: the Commission is the DMA’s main enforcer, and Apple can argue that any iCloud changes should sit inside the wider Brussels process rather than a single Italian case. Apple also said it had built a way for third-party cloud apps to store data directly on Apple devices, rather than on their own servers, because it sees that approach as better for privacy and security.

“This new concern related to iCloud has never been raised in our extensive discussions with the European Commission on interoperability.”

Apple, as reported by Reuters

The investigation is preliminary, and no breach has been found.

Even so, the case adds cloud storage to the DMA’s wider push into default platform services, after fights over app stores, browsers and payment rules. For Apple, the legal question is specific. The commercial one is larger: whether cloud storage on iOS is a competitive market, or another extension of the handset. Italy’s next steps will show if regulators accept Apple’s privacy defence or push rival cloud providers closer to the system access iCloud already has.