Apple has today announced that iPad apps can be sold through third-party app stores in the EU starting from September 16. This comes after the introduction of alternative app store for iPhones within the bloc, and now there are five such available.
Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) antitrust legislation has designated a number of tech companies as “gatekeepers”, meaning they are powerful enough to use their market dominance to block competition. Apple was designated as a gatekeeper partly because it had a monopoly over the sale of iPhone apps, and was told that it had to allow people to buy and sell iPhone apps outside of its own App Store. The company complied, and now there are five alternative app stores for iPhone apps.
The iPad is a smaller market, but the EU determined that there was sufficient lock-in effect to include it. Today, Apple informed developers that the app review guidelines permitting third-party iOS app sales now also cover iPadOS. It says: “Starting from September 16:”, followed by the details: “Users in the EU can download iPadOS apps on the App Store and through alternative distribution. As mentioned in May, if you have entered into the Alternative Terms Addendum for Apps in the EU, iPadOS first annual installs will begin to accumulate, and the lower App Store commission rate will apply. Additionally, alternative browser engines can be used in iPadOS apps.” The mention of notarization is because Apple still needs to review and approve apps for security purposes before they can be sold on other app stores.
Photo by Daniel Romero on Unsplash.
