And now, as reported by Bloomberg, the EU has also brought the hammer down on the iPad. Under the latest ruling, the tablet device is now considered a "gateway device" under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and Apple must allow sideloading of apps and uninstallation of first-party apps on the iPad OS within six months.

The EU DMA rules forced the company's hand to tear down Apple's walled garden rule and add app sideloading to the iPhone since March 7. Don't get me wrong, the team has tried to make doing so as awkward as possible, but it is possible to get a third-party app store and download apps from there.

And now the iPad has been added to the EU's ever-growing list of "gateway" products.

"The iPadOS constitutes an important gateway that many companies rely on to reach their customers," commented EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

The ruling means that Apple will make these changes within six months - making it clearer that users will choose their favorite browser and search engine and allowing side-loading of apps (reportedly the cause of the company's change to allow emulators in its app store (reportedly due to the company's change to allow emulators in the app store).

Apple is not going down without a fight, and a lawsuit has been filed in the EU General Court to assert some of its details. The main one being that its walled garden is so important that its security is not compromised.

But somehow, since it didn't work before, it is unlikely to work again this time. The "gatekeeper" companies (Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, ByteDance) are all bearing the brunt of this, and one can only hope that this move goes global and greatly increases the value and compatibility of the devices we all carry.