It adheres to the letter of the law, not the spirit of what the Open community would like, but they’re not lawmakers.
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iOS 17.4 Introduces Alternative App Marketplaces With No Commission in EU
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EU prioritizes fairness between businesses and consumers.
US prioritizes businesses over consumers.
-You're only ever going to see the E.U. force business to not screw over European society and then maybe those changes will trickle down to Americans simply because running a billion dollar corporation one way in the E.U. and another way in the US is a logistical nightmare.
By the sound of it, Apple will lose billions in E.U. earnings in just a few months or weeks. No way they'll freely hand over those earnings unless US regulators force them to (I'm sure über litigious US law also allows Apple to sue and postpone the change for years).
You think that anyone but the Big Guys are clamoring to run their own app stores? Most of the companies that have claimed to want this (epic for one) already have that revenue pulled from Apple.
I think this is an *option* that will be used by very few people in the real world.
Hard agree on the points of US vs EU stances though. Business runs this country.
Hopefully we will see emulators quickly, maybe we will even see things like OS X virtualization on the iPad Pros which could be cool.
Eu prioritizes big business because those are the only entities that will reap the benefit of a more open platform.
Glad this doesn’t apply to UK. EU iPhone prices will be going up for sure.
It’s better for devs who will make a better living. None of these percentage changes will be passed on to the customer (and they shouldn’t)
Well now that they‘re allowing game streaming in the US I don’t even care about this. That was the only thing i felt like i was missing
Given how the fees apply after a million downloads and also apply to free applications, how does this benefit big business? Facebook will lose money on free downloads irrespective of where their app originated.
It’s also good that Apple still have to verify apps and the user cannot just sideload an ipa file from the web. Massively cuts down on the risks of piracy and hacked apps. Shady organisations cannot just launch their own malware stores
I honestly would want something like chocolatey (windows), winget (windows) or homebrew for iOS/iPadOS.
The Core Technology Fee doesn't only apply to apps distributed through alternative app stores, it also applies to apps distributed through Apple's App Store should they choose to move over to the new terms. The reduced App Store commission only apply to the new terms.
You are correct interpreting this as a massive new bill for makers a large volume, free-to-install apps either provided for free, to customers or monetized in another way (ads, for instance). Amazon's app? Will go from paying zero to millions. Apps provided by large banks, retailers, business apps (Teams, Zoom) etc? Same. Most of Google's apps many of which must be installed by a lot more than 1 million? From zero to tens of millions.
Apple is likely correct in saying that 99 percent of developers will pay zero in Core Technology Fee, but I wouldn't be surprised if Apple has some very interesting internal figures about what this would mean for their total fees, which of course they haven't released.
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Per the updated terms, 9to5Mac is correct:
"The “Core Technology Fee” is fifty Euro cents (€.50) per First Annual Install, and applies to First Annual Installs of an Application on iOS in the EU that exceed one (1) million over a rolling twelve-month period, except for Applications that are Alternative App Marketplaces (EU). For an Alternative App Marketplace (EU), the Core Technology Fee applies to each First Annual Install."
So yes, downloading an alternative app store will incure an immediate .50 EUR fee for the developer.
Ultimately, the developer always decides how and where the consumer can get his offering. This is nothing new and hasn't changed. The only one no longer controlling it is Apple.
Hopefully the data you collect from the user is worth at least €0.50.
Per 9 to 5 Macs article "Makers of alternative app marketplaces themselves will also have to pay the Core Technology Fee, for the download of the alternative app store itself. For app marketplaces, the charge applies immediately — there is no 1 million free installs."
And how would that be a reasonable thing to mandate for a set of regulations aimed at improving competition?
Besides, which other platform has every app on every store?
Like I said, I don't disagree with that. But this is taking the Apple control (including security and privacy), for which I bought my iPhone and giving that to the developer.
Honestly, the way this has been handled annoys me to no end. Why does Apple think they deserve to be paid for users downloading apps on their own phones, on their own copies of iOS?
Right but what if they want to make a game emulator which isn’t allowed int the App Store, they’ll need to use the alternate app store and will need to pay half a million euros per million installs? Such apps are usually developed by volunteers and released for free.
Apple is already charging for iPhones in the EU (and elsewhere) as much as it thinks it would be most profitable. If Apple would've sold iPhones more expensively, it would have probably lost marketshare in the EU and therefore would have lost even more on services. Apple isn't staying in the EU because of some kind of ideals or values of providing its products and services to all Europeans, it does it because it generates profits.
If Apple allowed the app in the App Store then it would be a non issue. I’m talking about free apps that apple doesn’t allow in the app store. They can’t be free if Apple will eventually charge 0.50 euro per install..