Why Apple is working on allowing alternative app stores on iPhone and iPad
So far, the only way to install apps on iPhones and iPads has been via the App Store. Apple will change this by 2024 at the latest – but not voluntarily.
Apple made $85 billion in revenue from the App Store in 2021. With this in mind, the news that Apple is working on opening up to alternative app stores may sound surprising. Especially because the iPhone manufacturer always cites the security of its system as an argument for this closed structure. However, the Digital Markets Act leaves Apple no other choice – at least in the EU.
What is the Digital Markets Act?
After several years of passing through various instances, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) was adopted by the European Parliament and Council in April 2022 and published in the Official Journal at the end of October 2022. The law will thus enter into force, but won't take full effect until 2024. In other words, companies still have some time to prepare for the new requirements. This is exactly what Apple is doing by paving the way for other app stores to enter iOS.
The DMA intends to ensure that «platforms behave in a fair way online», according to the official EU Commission site. According to the DMA, Apple is considered a «gatekeeper» with a dominant market position with iOS on the iPhone and iPad. The EU wants to open this up and thus enable innovation by small companies and promote competition.
How will Apple meet the requirements of the DMA?
Apple probably doesn’t yet know exactly how alternative app stores and sideloading – i.e. the direct installation of apps – will look in iOS in two years. Apple might only open its store in the EU countries and not worldwide. Where will apple place Switzerland? We don’t know.
Android shows what it could look like. Google’s operating system, has allowed app stores beyond the Play Store for years and individual apps can be installed from any download source – with the corresponding settings. However, there are no reliable figures on usage.
Yet, the motivation to compete with Apple’s App Store is likely to be higher, as 85 to 90 percent of smartphone app sales are said to happen in Apple’s App Store. Google’s Play Store and others only achieve single-digit percentages in this metric.
There have been many complaints about Apple’s 30 percent fee on paid apps, but only Epic Games has taken on a legal battle with «Fortnite» and the Epic Games Store. However, the hype around the mobile version of the game has died down. It would take a new exciting, exclusive title to entice people to install another app store.
Opening offers not only advantages
Apple attempted to weaken or be exempt from the proposed regulations in the legislative process for the DMA. The closed system and Apple’s control of the installable apps are an important security aspect of iOS. The company isn’t alone in seeing the danger that hackers will set out to find security loopholes. Ed Hardy of «Cult of Mac» wrote, for example, the EU is forcing Apple to tear a big hole in iPhone security.
Cover photo: Primakov / Shutterstock.com27 people like this article
When I was but a young student, I'd sit in my friend's living room with all my classmates and play on his SuperNES. Since then I've had the opportunity to test out all the newest technology for you. I've done reviews at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, and have now arrived at Galaxus.de.
