If you missed the biggest news of the week, perhaps you’ve been too wrapped up watching that new hit nighttime television drama “Elon Musk, Twitter CEO.” It’s full of 180-degree plot changes, hilarious dialogue, and high finance all coming from the same character, Elon Musk. If you can drag yourself away from the real-life show about a company and executive spiraling out of control, you might want to focus on what is happening at Apple.
Get ready for the eventual surge in the number of third-party iOS app storefronts
The Digital Markets Act will impact iPhone models sold in Europe, which includes England
Why iOS app Developers are excited
Many app developers are excited because if Apple does allow sideloading for the iPhone, they will be able to offer their apps without having to pay Apple the 15% to 30% that the tech giant collects for app subscriptions and in-app payments. Keep in mind that if Apple does allow sideloading, it might do so in Europe first although U.S. lawmakers have also expressed an interest in having Apple allow sideloading on the iPhone.
Paulo Trezentos, CEO of Portugal’s Aptoide, a third-party Android app store, said, “Competition is a good way to improve services.” Aptoide takes a 15% to 25% cut of subscriptions and in-app payments which is slightly lower than the 15% to 30% range that Google charges for Play Store transactions. Trezentos envisions third-party app stores competing on content. Comparing it to the battle between streaming video sites the executive notes, “Netflix has content that HBO doesn’t have … App stores can be like that.”
One of the first third-party iOS app stores could be Paddle, which is a payment processor for software companies. In anticipation of the DMA taking effect in Europe, the company has already built an alternative to the App Store. Paddle CEO Christian Owens says that the store will charge developers only 5% to 10% on transactions. “A 30% fee is actually fairly egregious when we look at it in comparison to how much it actually costs to process payments, and what Apple is actually offering,” Owens said.
