Apple has set up a European App Store, which is good news except for one thing: malware

Last week, Margrethe Vestager, the European Competition Commissioner, boarded a plane and went to see a very special person: Tim Cook. The President of Cupertino received Vestager at Apple Park and after the meeting with Vestager Sum it up The meeting in two sentences with two important outcomes.

Pay attention, Apple Music. In 2021, the European Union formally accused Apple of competitive practices with Apple Music. This service competes with other streaming services like Spotify but “charges them commissions and prevents them from flagging alternative subscription options.” The case is still awaiting resolution, and in fact Vestager reported that this is just one example of the ongoing investigations with the tech giant as the protagonist.

European App Store. The second, and more important in the short term, is mandatory compliance with the DMA, the Digital Markets Act that makes BigTech guardians of our data. This law will mean that within a few weeks Apple will have two different versions of its App Store. One is the European one, and the other is the App Store for the US and the rest of the world. How do they reveal? On BloombergThis “partition” will be made before March 7, which is the deadline for compliance with this regulation.

Side loading in Europe. Vestager, who received the Xataka Legend Award at the 2022 Xataka Orange Awards, also noted that complying with the DMA forces Apple to distribute apps outside of the App Store. Thus users will be able to avoid the official Apple Store if they wish. This is what Spotify and Epic Games have been demanding through lawsuits for a long time. And hey, of course.

This is what actually happens on Android. This is what is commonly known as “sideloading”, and it consists of something that Android, for example, has always allowed: the ability to install games and applications not only from the Play Store, but through APK packages or through other app stores. In China, for example, there are dozens of Android app stores, among which are the official ones from major manufacturers there: Huawei AppGallery, OPPO App Store, VIVO App Store or MIUI (Xiaomi) App Store. Some of the most popular.

It's good news. The debate about App Store dictatorship has been around among users and industry analysts for years. Apple has maintained tight control over the distribution of software on its devices – and payment gateways – which has allowed it to generate massive income. Opening the option of access to app stores and other payment methods will encourage competitiveness and should be beneficial for users.

But it could be bad news. Controlling the App Store also had a beneficial result: the presence of dangerous applications was mitigated through this strict filtering process, which also caused More than one problem head. Imposing certain outcomes Apps that competed with the original apps were often blocked from distribution in the App Store. However, there are those who argue that opening the doors for side loading poses a security risk. Apple of course do that. It remains to be seen whether this will ultimately pose a real security problem.

Image | James Yarima

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