A change demanded of Apple in the Netherlands is coming to pass. According to a headline from Engadget, “Apple will let dating apps in the Netherlands offer third-party payments.” Just ahead of the holidays we heard word that Dutch regulators would require Apple to allow dating apps to employ payments systems other than Apple’s own. Now, Engadget has Apple saying it will bow to the demand. Citing a report from Reuters, the piece says:
…Apple confirmed it would comply with orders from the Netherlands' Authority for Consumers and Markets forcing it to allow third-party payment systems in Tinder and other locally-offered dating apps. The regulator determined on December 24th that Apple had abused its market power by requiring its in-app purchasing platform, and gave Apple until January 15th to make the change if it wanted to avoid fines.
Though Apple is going along, the report says the Cupertino-company is also appealing the decision. Interestingly, the order from and action in the Netherlands only applies to dating apps. One wonders whether that will stay true going forward.