Last week, European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager boarded a plane and went to see someone very special: Tim Cook. The president of the Cupertino company received Vestager at Apple Park, and after the meeting, Vestager summarized I would like to summarize the meeting in two sentences with two important results.

Watch out, Apple Music. In 2021, the European Union officially accused Apple of engaging in competitive practices with Apple Music. The service competes with other streaming services like Spotify but “charges them commissions and prohibits them from providing information about alternative subscription options.” The case is still waiting to be resolved, and in fact, Vestager stated that this is just one example of the investigations in which the technology giant plays a leading role.

European App Store. The second, which is much more important in the short term, is mandatory compliance with the DMA, the Digital Markets Act, which makes BigTech the custodians of our data. This law means that within a few weeks Apple will have two different versions of its App Store. One is the App Store for Europe and the other is for the US and the rest of the world. As explained on Bloomberg, this “split” will take place before the March 7 deadline for compliance with these regulations.

Side loading in Europe. Vestager, who received the Xataka Legend award at our Xataka Orange 2022 Awards, also noted how DMA compliance forces Apple to distribute apps outside of the App Store. Users will therefore be able to stay away from the official Apple store if they wish. This is what Spotify and Epic Games have long wanted through litigation. And of course.

This is what already happens on Android. This is what is colloquially known as ‘sideloading’ and consists of something that Android, for example, has always allowed: the ability to install games and apps via APK packages or other app stores, and not just from the Play Store. For example, there are dozens of Android application stores in China, and among them the official stores of major manufacturers stand out: Huawei AppGallery, Oppo Software Store, VIVO App Store or MIUI App Store (Xiaomi) are some of the more popular.

This is good news. The debate about the dictatorship of the App Store has existed among users and industry analysts for years. Apple has maintained tight control over the distribution of software to its devices and payment gateways, allowing it to generate enormous revenue. Opening the option to access other app stores and payment methods will encourage competition and benefit users.

But there could be bad news. The control of the App Store also had a beneficial result: the presence of dangerous applications was reduced by this strict filtering process, which also caused more than one headache. It enforced certain consequences and often prevented apps that competed with its native apps from being distributed on the App Store. However, there are those who argue that opening the doors for side loading is a safety risk. Of course Apple does this. It is not yet clear whether this will be a real security issue.

Image | James Yarema

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