There has been a lot of news about Apple these days.
A few days ago, Apple just issued a press release announcing that it will update iOS 17 in March of this year4 。
In this version, in order to meet the requirements of the European Union's Digital Markets Act, Apple will arrange a series of "anti-ancestor" updates to the European Union, such as "allowing apps to be sideloaded on iPhone", "allowing the use of third-party app stores", and "third-party browser engines".
One of the most interesting is "Allow apps to be sideloaded on the iPhone", which is no longer restricting users to only be able to use the app in Apple's own App Store.
Unexpectedly, the major app developers directly related to this update said that they did not buy it.
Spotify executives called Apple's operation a "complete farce", and the CEO of Epic Games even directly called Apple's new rules for third-party app stores "garbage".
Even onlookers at Microsoft jumped out and called Apple's new rules a "step in the wrong direction."
When I first saw it, Tony was also very puzzled, isn't it a good thing to open sideload?
App developers no longer have to be controlled by the App Store, and users can have more choices when it comes to software.
But it didn't happen until I took a closer look at Apple's detailed policy of allowing iPhone sideloading apps and third-party app stores:
Apple's "open sideloading" this time is really not as good as it seems, whether for developers or ordinary users.
Before discussing the impact of this sideload, we must first get rid of a misunderstanding: Apple's so-called open sideload this time is not to allow users to install software with installation packages freely like Android.
Instead, it opens up third-party app stores, allowing users to install and install software from third-party software stores like Google Play, Samsung App Store, and so on.
However, these third-party app stores can only appear on the iPhone with Apple's authorization, and the apps in them must also be reviewed by Apple before they can be put on the shelves.
And when users go to these third-party app stores, Apple also has to charge tolls.
According to Apple's official statement, whether it is software on the App Store or a third-party app market, after more than 1 million installs, Apple will charge 0EUR 5.
As for the "Apple tax" that developers have been complaining about, when the third-party application market was opened this time, Apple also changed it by the way (limited to the European Union).
Previously, users recharged in the software, and had to go through Apple's payment channels, and Apple also took a 30% commission.
After the change, if the software is still ** from the App Store, then the developer only needs to be charged 20%. If you don't use Apple's payment channels, you can save an additional 3% on service fees.
If the software is from a third-party app store**, it's not a commission, but you can't pay for it with Apple Pay.
And for those leading app developers, it is easy to have more than 1 million apps in their app**, and even if they are listed on third-party app stores, they have to pay Apple.
And in order to maintain decency, their app still has to be listed on the App Store, which requires an additional 17% commission.
The two sides add up, and then count the part of the software that has been siphoned off by Apple Pay, it is really not necessarily cheap.
But to be fair, Apple's approach hurts these big manufacturers, and it is still beneficial to developers of niche apps.
If you don't want to pay money to the App Store, you can just put it on the shelves in the third-party software store, and the amount itself is not much, and it can't reach the line of 1 million times at all.
If you don't want to use Apple's payment, you can also use it, and all the money will go into your pocket after the user recharges.
It's not for nothing that Apple says it can make 99% of developers spend less.
As mentioned earlier, it is all about developers, so what impact will it have on ordinary users after the opening of the third-party application market?
In fact, the biggest concern is malvertising or rogue software in third-party app markets.
Tony is concerned about this, because Apple does admit that third-party stores may not be able to review it.
Apple's description of third-party app store software audits in the announcement.
Just by reviewing the software in the App Store, Apple is actually vaguely unable to deal with it.
For example, the recipe Daquan app that I complained about to everyone before will engage in fake login pop-ups to deceive the user's account and password, and it is proper rogue software.
The App Store didn't review it either.,Still let him put it on the shelves.。。。
Now that third-party app stores are going to be opened, people really have to worry that users will have a greater probability of falling into rogue software.
Having said that, this time the EU forced Apple to open up sideloading, or because there are too many complaints about Apple.
Big manufacturers put their own software on the App Store, not only are they limited by Apple's review mechanism, but they also have to share the money they earn with Apple, and no one is happy to change it.
In 2020, Epic, a well-known game developer, couldn't stand the App Store's practice of taking a 30% recharge fee for users to recharge in the software, and added its own recharge channel to its game "Fortnite" in an attempt to bypass the "Apple tax".
Apple and Epic have been in a long legal battle for this.
But as we said earlier, although the small developers did benefit, the big manufacturers did not pay less because of this.
But the distribution of these benefits has little to do with users. The only change may be that the probability of encountering rogue software will increase...
But fortunately, now it is only in the European Union that Apple has done this "sideloading" program, and it can only be wronged that European users are the first batch of guinea pigs.
As for other regions, it is better to wait for the fruit and the EU to settle this matter before picking peaches.