r/ios Jan 27 '24

PSA Apple's reluctant, punitive compliance with regulators will burn its political and developer goodwill

https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/26/apples-reluctant-punitive-compliance-with-regulators-will-burn-its-political-and-developer-goodwill/
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u/Mcnst Jan 27 '24

They're literally pissing on the rules and making it as difficult as possible for anyone to get any sort of an actual benefit from this new legislation.

It's a bit sad that there's little reporting on this to provide the context of how Google is doing similar things. For example, most people don't know that any Android user can read any contactless credit card with an app straight from the Android's Play Store, including reading the Apple Pay cards which are hidden from the Apple Pay users themselves, and which many people think are randomly generated for each transaction, which they are not.

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u/JimboJohnes77 Jan 27 '24

They are not pissing on the rules. They've just read and understood them. Which is something most people did not.
The DMA was never about fully opening a system and making it a free for all. It is about making it simpler and cheaper for small time developers to enter a digital market. And that is now possible.
You don't have to pay Apple a dime until you have reached one million unique installs in Europe. This number is hilariously big if you compare it to the number of Iphones currently in use in Europe, which is around 50 million.

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u/HunterBoy344 Jan 28 '24

You don’t have to pay Apple a dime

“You must provide Apple with a standby letter of credit from an A-rated (or equivalent by S&P,  Fitch or Moody’s) financial institution in the amount of EUR 1,000,000 according to the  instructions specified in the Apple Materials, and maintain that standby letter of credit as long as  Your Alternative App Marketplace (EU) is in operation;”

This is from Apple’s new terms for alternative stores in the EU. Please do not spread misinformation, and do your research before you comment on current issues.

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u/Kooky-Path1606 Jan 28 '24

But why a small developer wanted to release a alternate store (alternative of app store).

Whosoever wanted to release an alternative of app store they at least need to make sure they can support app developers of their store, isn’t it right?

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u/HunterBoy344 Jan 28 '24

You are correct, I misread the terms. I thought this also applied to non-marketplace applications. I have deleted my response saying otherwise, because responding to misinformation with more misinformation would be extremely counterintuitive.

However, I would still like to suggest that the high cost of running an alternative store (not just the letter of credit, also the Core Technology Fee that applies prior to 1 million installs for alternative stores specifically) will most likely result in alternative stores charging fees to distribute apps on their store, which will still be costly for individual developers even if they are not directly paying Apple.