Software developers may soon be able to offer iPhone apps for download outside of Apple’s official App Store, a process known as sideloading. But the hope that this will allow them to escape the company’s strict controls and substantial fees is fading.
Apple currently plans to allow sideloading of apps on its hardware products in order to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act, or DMA. (Note that this will only be possible in Europe, where the DMA applies.) But according to a new Wall Street Journal report, citing “people familiar with the company’s plans,” it will do it this way. the most appropriate. beneficial to himself.
In practice, this means that apps downloaded will face many of the same rules and limitations as those downloaded through the App Store. Apple will continue to charge fees for paid downloads of these apps, for example, and intends to review them before allowing them to go on sale.
Sources do not specify a figure for the revenue cut Apple intends to charge on downloaded apps, but experience suggests it is unlikely to be significantly lower than the App Store official. When the company agreed to allow alternative payment systems for apps that are downloaded via the App Store, it announced that the fee would drop from the usual 30 percent… to 27 percent. After all, it’s in Apple’s best interest to make sideloading as unattractive as possible, for both developers and consumers.
The deadline to comply with the DMA is March, so time is running out. But WSJ sources insist that Apple’s plans could still change between now and then. The company has yet to release an official statement on how sideloading will work on iOS and other Apple platforms, nor has it presented its plans to the European Commission, which will need to verify whether they meet regulatory requirements.
If Apple’s plans fail to gain EC approval, the consequences could be significant. The WSJ quotes antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager as saying that Europe “is absolutely ready to tackle non-compliance.”
