Historic and unexpected movement. Apple is working for open your devices to third-party app stores, according to the ‘Bloomberg’ agency. It should be remembered that, to date, users of the apple company can only download ‘apps’ from the firm’s official store, the App Store. ABC has contacted the company to consult the information, for the moment it has not received a response. The measure could begin to be applied with the iOS 17 operating system, surely sometime between 2023 and 2024. In principle, it would only be in force in the EU, since it would be motivated by the Digital Markets Law, which will come into force next May.
With the opening of Apple devices, among which are the iPhone and the iPadthe users they will be able to resort to other app stores to download their apps and make your subscriptions. This can allow development companies to avoid the commissions charged by the apple firm, which can be 30%, each time an Internet user makes a purchase in a tool installed from its App Store.
This platform, for years, has been among the most lucrative businesses in technology. Precisely, the commissions have caused companies like Spotify do not allow users to subscribe through the iOS app. ‘Fortnite‘, one of the most popular video games in recent years, was removed from the App Store after Epic, the developer, offered users an alternative payment gateway.
With the opening of Apple’s ‘gadgets’ to other download platforms, it is foreseeable that iPhone users will finally be able to play ‘Fortnite’ on their iPhone and iPad again. Until now, the only alternative to play this title on these devices is to resort to video game streaming stores, such as Xbox.
With the advent of third-party stores, developers also they could start to tempt users with more affordable prices for their applications, since they would no longer be required to pay commissions to Apple to be present within the technology ecosystem.
The EU, behind the movement
Indeed, according to the information shared by ‘Bloomberg’, the movement is directly caused by the Digital Markets Law (DMA), which, if nothing goes wrong, will come into force between mid-2023 and will be mandatory in 2024 With this regulation, the EU intends precisely to put an end to the alleged monopolies of the big technology companies. And that doesn’t just mean forcing companies like Apple to open their devices to downloading apps from third-party stores.
Platforms such as WhatsApp can also be forced to allow the user to send messages directly from their platform to those of other less used messaging services, such as Telegram.