Apple says third-party app marketplace creators must have €1,000,000 'letter of credit' - 9to5Mac
9to5mac.com
Apple today officially announced support for third-party app stores in the European Union, as part of iOS 17.4. In a...
  • Besen@feddit.deEnglish
    0·
    9 months ago

    It’s almost as if they want additional restrictions with brutal enforcement. If they had made the external app stores just unattractive enough to maybe lose Fortnite but keep most of the other developers, it would be much more beneficial for them.

    Instead, they are taking the most aggressive, obviously illegal stance they can.

    • fidodo@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      9 months ago

      You have to go out of your way to install non play store apps on Android and for the average user there aren’t a ton of use cases so most users don’t side load apps anyways. I don’t understand what they’re so afraid of. They don’t even have to worry about other marketplaces being installed by default since they have a hardware monopoly

      • Zacryon@feddit.deEnglish
        0·
        9 months ago

        I find the term “sideloading” funny. It seems artificially created to be a derogative phrasing for something which was and is completely normal and advantageous.

        There was a time, when internet and computers weren’t that old, where you would just visit a website to download and install a program.
        It’s still common on the desktop market. At least for Windows and Linux systems.

        Google used the brilliant idea to chain users up to their own eco-system, by - very successfully - creating the illusion that using the Play Store and a tremendous amount of Google services and apps are the only way to go on Android devices. Apple does the same. Users aren’t used to “the old ways” anymore like on PC for example. And while it might seem like a win-win situation for the company as well as for users (it is easy for most and auto-updates are nice), situations like these highlight how dangerous it can be to allow a company to have complete control over a market.

        In other words:
        Teach people how to download and install stuff from the web again!

      • noobnarski@feddit.deEnglish
        0·
        9 months ago

        Its not hard at all really, just one setting and you can install any app from the browser. Even better, when you try to install an apk file and it isnt enabled, you will even be taken straight to the related setting, so you dont even need to search it.

  • gigachad@feddit.deEnglish
    0·
    9 months ago

    Apple says that marketplace developers will need to pay the €0.50 Core Technology Fee for each first annual installation of their marketplace app

    lol you really can’t make that up

    • Flipper@feddit.deEnglish
      0·
      9 months ago

      They saw how unpopular that was with unity and decided it’s a great wrench to throw at the EU while still complying with the letter of the law.

      • geissi@feddit.deEnglish
        0·
        9 months ago

        while still complying with the letter of the law

        Is that enough though?
        I’m not sure about the EU level but in several states not only the letter of the law but also the intent of the law matters.

        Edit: To clarify, I wonder whether it is enough for companies to follow the letter of the law while flagrantly ignoring the intent of the law.

          • anlumo@feddit.deEnglish
            0·
            9 months ago

            Amending the law to fix these issues would take another decade though, so maybe they’re just trying to prolong the process.