The Italian Antitrust Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato) has launched a formal investigation into Apple to verify compliance with the interoperability obligations mandated by the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The investigation places a spotlight directly on iOS and iPadOS, the foundational operating systems of the Cupertino giant’s mobile ecosystem.

Under the European digital market guidelines, Apple is required to provide third-party consumer cloud providers with effective interoperability across its platforms, completely free of charge. This means competing companies must enjoy equal access to the exact same hardware and software components that Apple makes available to its own native service, iCloud.

The watchdog's intervention is based on specific evidence suggesting that third-party consumer cloud providers might not be operating under the same conditions guaranteed to iCloud. If these asymmetries are confirmed, they would create a structural competitive disadvantage for competitors, resulting in a violation of regulations designed to ensure fair and open digital markets. The investigation aims to shed light on these technical access barriers.