The post Apple’s App Store revenue in the EU unchanged since Digital Markets Act went into effect appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Evercore analyst Amit Daryanani is out with a new analysis that shows Apple’s EU App Store revenue data does not currently show any meaningful change to revenue levels since the company’s compliance with the Digital Markets Act.

Philip Elmer-DeWitt covers Daryanani’s note for Apple 3.0:
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The changes Apple implemented to comply with the DMA went into effect at the beginning of March and EU App Store revenue was +28% in March and +22% in April. March revenue was up 9% from the pre-DMA levels in February and April revenue was +6% vs. February.

The lack of impact is likely driven by the mechanism Apple implemented in order to comply with the DMA, which introduces a “Core Technology Fee” for any app that is downloaded from outside of the App Store. We estimate this fee would likely end up being higher than the 30% cut Apple takes on sales through the App Store, so it is unlikely any developer has chosen to move away from the App Store.

If the EU is able to successfully challenge the Core Technology Fee in court, then we may see more of an impact.

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MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote in December 2022:

Those who want safety, security, and privacy will stick to Apple’s App Store, but a single point of control is always a danger, especially when it comes to capricious censorship (see: pre-Musk Twitter, Apple’s App Store in China, etc.).

These moves, including removing the mandate to use WebKit, Apple’s Safari browsing engine, in third-party browsers, will greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the threat of anti-trust actions against Apple for the foreseeable future.
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The post Opening a third-party iPhone app store in Europe isn’t easy appeared first on MacDailyNews.

In January, Apple announced it would soon allow iPhone and iPad users in Europe to download apps from third-party app stores. Actually opening one, however, isn’t easy.

Austin Carr for Bloomberg News:
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28-year-old developers [Riley Testut and Shane Gill] saw Apple’s policy shift as a chance to legitimize the unauthorized service they designed several years ago to let users play old-school video games on their iPhones. The pair, who run a bootstrapped startup from the Dallas apartment they share, began slogging through Apple’s approval process for third-party shops. Their experience offers a glimpse of the road ahead for other outsiders looking to take advantage of Apple’s changes…

[Apple] introduced a complicated set of policies for those who want to launch a shop in the EU, as well as a €0.50 (54¢) “core technology fee” on app installs.

Apple says its fees reflect the value it provides developers through tools and technologies that enable them to build and share apps, and that hundreds of Apple team members spent tens of thousands of hours creating capabilities and safeguards for its new EU systems. “Apple’s approach to the DMA was guided by two simple goals: complying with the law and reducing the inevitable, increased risks it creates for our EU users,” an Apple spokesperson says.

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MacDailyNews Take: Security is certainly a major concern.

As for Apple’s App Store commissions:

How much did it cost developers to have their apps burned onto CDs, boxed, shipped, displayed on store shelves prior to Apple remaking the world for the better for umpteenth time? Apple incurs costs to store, review, organize, surface, and distribute apps to over one billion users. — MacDailyNews, June 10, 2022

That said, as we wrote in December 2022:

Those who want safety, security, and privacy will stick to Apple’s App Store, but a single point of control is always a danger, especially when it comes to capricious censorship (see: pre-Musk Twitter, Apple’s App Store in China, etc.).

iPhone and iPad users must, like Mac users, have the ability to install third-party apps; even if they never do, for it will keep Apple honest. The ability to ban an app loses all power when it’s simply available in another App Store.
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The post Apple to allow EU users to download apps through web sites soon appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Briefing the media on the latest development to its EU app ecosystem this week, an Apple representative said developers wanting to distribute iOS apps directly will be able to tap into the entitlement through iOS 17.5 beta 2.

Natasha Lomas for TechCrunch:
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Apple is opening up web distribution for iOS apps targeting users in the European Union starting Tuesday. Developers who opt in — and who meet Apple’s criteria, including app notarization requirements — will be able to offer iPhone apps for direct download to EU users from their own websites.

It’s a massive change for a mobile ecosystem that otherwise bars so-called “sideloading.” Apple’s walled garden stance has enabled it to funnel essentially all iOS developer revenue through its own App Store in the past. But, in the EU, that moat is being dismantled as a result of new regulations that apply to the App Store and which the iPhone maker has been expected to comply with since early last month.

In March, Apple announced that a web distribution entitlement would soon be coming to its mobile platform as part of changes aimed at complying with the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA)…

[D]evelopers will have to opt into Apple’s new EU business terms, which include a new “core technology fee” charged at €0.50 for each first annual install over 1 million in the past 12 months regardless of where apps are distributed. App makers wishing to avoid the fee currently have no choice but to remain on Apple’s old business terms, meaning they are unable to access any of the DMA entitlements.

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MacDailyNews Take: as we wrote in December 2022:

Those who want safety, security, and privacy will stick to Apple’s App Store, but a single point of control is always a danger, especially when it comes to capricious censorship (see: pre-Musk Twitter, Apple’s App Store in China, etc.).

iPhone and iPad users must, like Mac users, have the ability to install third-party apps; even if they never do, for it will keep Apple honest. The ability to ban an app loses all power when it’s simply available in another App Store.
‎
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The post Apple to allow EU users to download apps through web sites soon appeared first on MacDailyNews.

The post Apple says multiple governmental agencies have concerns about sideloading apps on iPhone appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Apple on Friday said that a number of governmental agencies in the European Union and elsewhere have voiced concerns about security risks as Apple is forced to allow app sideloading its iPhones and iPads to rival app stores to comply with EU tech rules. Under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple will be required as of March 7th to offer alternative app stores on iPhones and iPads.

Foo Yun Chee for Reuters:
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[Apple] said “sideloading” – installation of applications on a mobile device without using its dedicated app store – has sparked concerns from both EU and non-EU government agencies and users.

“These agencies – especially those serving essential functions such as defense, banking, and emergency services – have reached out to us about these new changes,” Apple said in a guidance paper.

It said the agencies wanted assurances that they would be able to prevent government employees from sideloading apps onto government-purchased iPhones and that several said they planned to block sideloading on every device they manage.

“One EU government agency informed us that it had neither the funding nor the personnel to review and approve apps for its devices, and so planned to continue to rely on Apple and the App Store because it trusts us to comprehensively vet apps,” Apple said.

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MacDailyNews Take: With the eurocrat-stuffed quasi-governmental EU forcing Apple to make expenditures for something mandated by the shortsighted quasi-government (vetting sideloaded apps), Apple has the absolute right to charge developers and profit from those who wish to participate in third-party app stores for iPhone and iPad.
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