Although Apple is about to comply with Europe’s Digital Market Act (DMA), it will still be difficult for developers to escape the “Apple tax”-style fee collection strategy shortly.
According to the Wall Street Journal, with DMA compliance, Apple will allow users to download iPhone apps from outside the App Store and bypass the company’s payment system with its systems. However, to be able to maintain control of its ecosystem, Apple is said to be preparing to introduce new fees and restrictions.
Specifically, the company will conduct careful monitoring of applications downloaded outside the App Store and allow itself to review each of them. More importantly, Apple will charge developers a fee for offering to download apps from third-party resources. This could increase tensions with developers, some of whom had hoped the new law would allow them to offer apps directly to users and eliminate high payment fees.
Apple recently allowed transactions through third-party payment processors in the US but will continue to charge fees for those transactions. The company has been studying the DMA regulations for more than a year and has found ways to ensure compliance while looking for new ways to reduce revenue impacts. Currently, the company has not revealed its change package or tested it.
Antitrust experts say the DMA includes clear requirements as well as the ability for companies to deny requests with specific explanations. For example, Microsoft was preparing to take advantage of Apple’s relaxation of the rules by releasing a client for its cloud gaming service in the App Store, but Apple refused because it would not be appropriate. There can be multiple games in one application. Meta has been working on the Project Neon program for several years to allow smartphone owners to upload their ads to Facebook mobile software directly from the social networking application, but Apple forced Meta to remove it.
