Big News: Apple Will Allow Outside App Stores In Response To EU Law
from the opening-up-is-good dept
Here’s some potentially very big news in the world of the mobile internet: after years of refusing to do so, Apple is finally going to allow third party app stores on iOS devices. This has been a discussion for a long, long time. Many people forget now, but the app store didn’t even exist until the second generation of iPhones. On the first version, the only thing allowed were web apps, and frankly, that state of affairs was probably better for those who believe in an open, interoperable internet.
However, there are limitations to what can be done in web apps, and (especially) the ability of such apps to reach into deeper parts of the phone to take advantage of other phone-related services, which could make apps faster and more powerful. So, Apple pretty quickly launched its app store, which it made sure was basically the only way to get apps onto the phone. Google, on the other hand, has allowed third party app stores and direct sideloading of apps on Android for years, but more recently has tended to make that more and more difficult — even paying wireless carriers to not develop their own app stores.
Both Apple and Google have long insisted that putting themselves in as gatekeepers helps ensure a higher level of security, by allowing their teams to review apps more carefully before they can reach phones. In practice, however, it doesn’t always work that way. Security compromising apps still get through. And we hear stories of apps being blocked for what certainly appear to be anti-competitive reasons.
So, this new move is a big one. It appears to be in direct response to the Digital Markets Act in the EU, which is set to take effect shortly.
The main new European law, dubbed the Digital Markets Act, takes effect in the coming months, but companies aren’t required to comply with all of the rules until 2024. Government officials in the US and other countries have pushed for similar laws but haven’t gotten as far as the EU yet.
The act requires technology companies to allow the installation of third-party apps and let users more easily change default settings. The rules demand that messaging services work together and that outside developers get equal access to core features within apps and services.
The laws apply to technology companies with market valuations of at least €75 billion ($80 billion) and a minimum of 45 million monthly users within the EU.
The report from Bloomberg notes that Apple seems to be doing this grudgingly, and notes that “it hasn’t been a popular initiative within Apple” and that “engineers working on the plan also see it as distraction from typical day-to-day development of future features.” Which, sure, whatever. You’ll get over it. Having more sideloading should open up more opportunities for innovation, which could make your devices more useful. Enough with thinking everything needs a gatekeeper.
And, in fact, now that it’s close to being required, we’re seeing that for all the talk from Apple about the security risks associated with this, they may be figuring out ways to deal with that:
To help protect against unsafe apps, Apple is discussing the idea of mandating certain security requirements even if software is distributed outside its store. Such apps also may need to be verified by Apple — a process that could carry a fee. Within the App Store, Apple takes a 15% to 30% cut of revenue.
Of course, we’ll need to see the details of how all this works in practice, but on the whole this is a good thing.
Now, here in the US, we’ve talked about bills that would effectively try to do the same thing, and while supportive of the concept, the bill that made its way through Congress, the Open Apps Market Act, had serious problems in that it had added language, at the request of certain Republican lawmakers, to make the bill a content moderation bill in disguise. There are ways to fix that, but if Apple just moves forward with being more open in general, we wouldn’t even need such a bill in the US anyway.
Filed Under: 3rd party app stores, app store, competition, dma, eu, open app markets, sideloading
Companies: apple
Comments on “Big News: Apple Will Allow Outside App Stores In Response To EU Law”
"Do we really need regulation?"
How long before capitalists come along and say things like, “look, we didn’t need to put any regulations on Apple in the United States. Apple decided to make a good decision in America without being forced by American law to do so. Adding regulation doesn’t solve anything.”?
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well, its tech, so ~20 years ago.
Regarding OAMA and its sister bill, AICOA: Big Tech buddies like Chamber Of “Progress” stoked bullshit fears about the bills. With AICOA, tech-focused legislators added amendments in response to the bullshit fears that Kovac & more helped stir up. And now the bill is very much dead.
Folks like Evan Greer and the people at Public Knowledge pointed out the bad-faith arguments surrounding content moderation but whoops, I guess we’re not allowed to have nice things because some well-funded pals of Big Tech love using queer folks like me as bargaining chips to stop much-needed regulation from passing.
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I think PK and FftF are wrong about this, and lots of other aligned groups, like Free Press, agree with me on this. It’s not because one side is “well-funded pals of big tech.” It’s just people having differences of opinion on this matter.
You can read OAMA for yourself and see how it does, in fact, include concerning provisions on content moderation. Oddly, they’re almost identical to the problematic parts of the JCPA… which PK and FftF oppose.
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Regarding AICOA and the people that agree with you that these antitrust bills are bad: In the House, Representative Zoe Lofgren voted against AICOA. Her district is heavy on Big Tech and her daughter, Sheila Collins, works at Google. They sure seem like a pal of Big Tech to me.
Yes, every retailer should be forced to allow peddlers into their businesses to sell their own products without paying rent, after all, it’s a free market! Also, score a win for the malware developers! Very unfair of Apple to develop secure eco-system that people are willing to pay more for so they don’t have to deal with free-for-all mess of other platforms! Must legislate private companies down to least common denominator so that all platforms are equally targeted. /s
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Errr, your end-sarcasm tag is not needed – you describe exactly and correctly the fate awaiting large companies and their users, thanks to under-the-table money in politics.
Never forget, the least-common-denominator syndrome is the fast lane to why we can’t have nice things anymore. And as evidenced by 73 million voters two years ago, it’s also the reason we can’t have nice politicians anymore. You know, the ones we used to elect who were civil in their disagreements, and still put the country first when all was said and done.
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Exactly! Look at all the damage allowing side loading of apps has done to Microsoft in the PC market!
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I have two things, so obviously two of the same thing…
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I’m not saying there’s no difference, I’m saying there’s no meaningful difference. Although I’d be interested if you could suggest one.
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Who owns an iPhone, and why should apple be allowed to control what application the owner decides to use on it? They are not being forced to carry any app in their app store, just not block the user from using a different app store.
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I own an iPhone, and the App Store is the only choice if we want an iOS app. If we want an app that isn’t on the app store, we’ll have to jailbreak it, which is against DMCA §1202, or we’ll pound sand.
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You must really hate the fact that Macs allow you to install whatever software you want, or (gasp) even write your own without Daddy Apple telling you it’s okay.
And they claim the App store is about security!
I remember my very first iPhone.
The first iPhone in fact. Paid $600, Jobs said they sold so many they dropped the price to $400. Hey! So, I got a $200 store credit. Which pushed me over the amount I needed to buy my first Mac (Macbook Pro 15″).
Also, anyone remember those web apps, and websites when the iPhone launched. Dropped into the dirt, swamped, crashed, no reply, 404, you name it. Jobs surrendered when the only input he was receiving is why is this happening?
Recall apple’s website going down – on Xmas? All those iTunes gift cards getting activated took them down. Hilarious.
Of course, Cingular Wireless made the original deal with Jobs. Pretty much gave him complete control – so he would play in their pool exclusively. ATT bought them BEFORE the iPhone was released, but kept the deal with Jobs. The deal was probably the entire reason to buy Cingular in the first place.
Interesting times.
Re: Remember.....
Fuck me, it’s Peter Kay…..
Further reading about this says that Apple only plans to do this in the EU. This will most likely mean US/EU-specific software/SKUs for the next wave of Apple devices.
Gaming stores
Steam, Epic, Blizzard stores will likely pop up. If they don’t, someone isn’t doing their job.
Reality to come
How long before the first ignorant fool blames apple for an infected pirate app they downloaded borking their phone?
Despite the pure lack of understanding presented here and elsewhere by media, you very much can load software outside of the AppStore on iOS and iPadOS. If your are competent.
Opening up unrestricted access is not an improvement on competition: its is a doorway to abuse of warranty. Because once side loading takes place by the ignorant masses, there will be a flood of user-fault issues that the media, and lawmakers, will demand apple fix.
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