According to Bloomberg, Apple is planning to allow alternative app stores on its iPhones and iPads as part of a broad makeover aimed at meeting rigorous European Union regulations in 2024. Recently, Apple updated App Store pricing with 700 new price points.
According to the report, Apple’s software engineering and services personnel are working to open up critical platform pieces. As part of the changes, users could download third-party software to their iPhones and iPads without going through Apple’s App Store, sidestepping restrictions and the up to 30% fee it applies to payments.
New story: Apple is preparing to allow alternative app stores and side-loading on iOS — along with a slew of other changes to make the iPhone more open — in response to new European Union requirements arriving in 2024. https://t.co/hZpXrKdHGj
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) December 13, 2022
The changes are a response to EU rules aimed at levelling the playing field for third-party developers and improving customers’ digital lives. Apple and Google, which manage the two largest app stores, have been criticized as gatekeepers for years.
Apple’s effort might pave the way for other regions if similar laws are implemented in other nations, said the people, who asked not to be identified since the work is private. Initially, the company’s reforms will only affect Europe.
Still, the news boosted dating app and service stocks. Match Group Inc. and Bumble Inc. surged as much as 10%, a sign investors think they could avoid Apple’s commissions. However, Spotify Technology SA rose 9.7%, and Apple’s shares were unchanged.
The primary new European regulation, known as the “Digital Markets Act,” goes into effect in the coming months, although corporations are not expected to comply with all of the rules until 2024. Government officials in the United States and other nations have lobbied for similar legislation but have not gotten as far as the EU.
The act compels technology companies to encourage the installation of third-party apps and to make it easier for customers to change default settings. The rules say that messaging services must work together and that outside developers must have the same access to apps and services’ most important features.