Apple has announced its proposed changes to the App Store, taking into account the requirements of the EU regulation changes that come into effect in March. They have been released into an iOS beta, and developers now have the documentation.
First, it should be noted that these are comprehensive proposals and that at the time of writing we don’t know whether the EU will accept them. That’s how this stuff works: the EU makes demands, companies try to build to the requirements, and it’s only once it’s up and running that we know whether the EU is satisfied. The battle to see whether what Apple is offering is considered adequate or acceptable will doubtless be accompanied by many lawyers writing invoices using extra-wide calculators. If you want to read the legislation, and who wouldn’t, it’s here: tinyurl.com/355EUregs. Apple’s newly stated rules are laid out at tinyurl.com/355newrules.
The second thing to note is that these changes apply only to the EU, so they won’t happen here in the UK.
So, what is the change? Essentially, the EU has insisted there be alternative ways of getting apps onto the iPhone. It believes this competition between app stores will cut prices for consumers.
Allow me to be blunt: this won’t happen. The simple reality is that most apps are free to the user. If the app requires a subscription, this can be made through a different platform and applied to your iPhone app. Look at Netflix or its equivalents to see how this works at present.
The changes don’t allow for raw side loading, so you can’t take an iOS executable app and just bang it onto your phone. The changes require you to load apps from either
