App Store To Be 'Split in Two' Ahead of EU iPhone Sideloading Deadline (macrumors.com) 29
Apple is preparing to split the App Store "in two" in the coming weeks ahead of European Union requirements that will force Apple to enable app sideloading in the region, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. From a report: In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman explained that Apple is gearing up to make changes to the App Store in the EU to comply with the region's impending Digital Markets Act (DMA). Apple is apparently planning to roll out adjustments to comply with the new legal requirements in the coming weeks, including splitting off the App Store in the EU from the rest of the world. The deadline for Apple to comply with the DMA is March 7, so the company has just over seven weeks to enact the changes.
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LOL, still too early?
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It's a real shame Apple is an American company.
Perhaps. But it is none of the EU's concern what Apple does outside the EU.
This could have easily been avoided if they were French.
Perhaps a better question to ask is why there is no French Apple, no French Google, no French Amazon, no French Facebook.
If you stifle and abuse tech companies, you will have no tech companies of your own.
I live and work in Silicon Valley. I know several French people who came here to do their startups because they felt unwelcome at home.
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The USA accounts for 4% of the worlds population
US laws end at the US boarder
Just as foreigners who do businesses/visit/live in the USA are bound by US laws, US companies/Visitors/immigrants are bound by the laws of the country they are in.
Its not a difficult concept.
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Wait a minute. Aren't Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook the bad guys? Aren't they all massive privacy rapists and tax dodgers? I thought Slashdot didn't like any of them.
Maybe the fact that they can't exist in the same way in Europe is a good thing. We have plenty of tech companies, they just don't get massive by stealing your data or abusing their customers with lock-in and price gouging.
Europe gets to enjoy the benefits of these US companies' products, while not having to pay the price that the US did f
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Wait a minute. Aren't Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook the bad guys? Aren't they all massive privacy rapists and tax dodgers?
Google and Facebook are privacy rapists. Apple and Amazon are not.
Europe gets to enjoy the benefits of these US companies' products, while not having to pay the price that the US did for their growth in the first place.
What price? Do you mean the millions of American employees who earn six-figure salaries working for these companies?
Re:It's a real shame (Score:5, Informative)
It's a real shame Apple is an American company. This could have easily been avoided if they were French.
I can't see any exception carved out in the DMA based on origin of a company. Perhaps you could be talking from the depth of your rectum? And in any case, Apple isn't America. It's a Limited liability Irish company registered with number 470672 at the Companies Registration Office of Ireland. If they were American maybe the EU wouldn't have gone after them for tax evasion in Ireland.
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will the EU let getaway with apps turning off when (Score:3)
will the EU let getaway with apps turning off when out of the EU?
what if when no network then no non apple apps?
will you need to buy an EU apple phone that will not work at all in the USA and UK?
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Apple is re-jigging the app store, not voluntarily giving up 30% revenue from hundreds of millions of people who spend money on apps. The apps aren't going anywhere.
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they will give up part of that 30% in europe as developers will be able to use alternative payment methods, and particularly control recurring payments. this was what the whole epic thing was about: lootboxes.
i wouldn't expect sideloading to have a massive impact because, well ... apple users.
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So what you're saying is the developers will still be there. Which is my point.
Re: will the EU let getaway with apps turning off (Score:2)
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It's also 15% for those making less than 1 million a year and those making more than 1 million a year likely might have some negotiating power as that would be a $150k to $300k account for apple at a minimum.
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Apple is re-jigging the app store, not voluntarily giving up 30% revenue from hundreds of millions of people who spend money on apps. The apps aren't going anywhere.
I thought the rate was 15% for most developers now?
It is.
Publisher Sales must exceed US$1,000,000 for the Rate to increase from 15% to 30%.
Plus, Subscriptions that run longer than a year (including extensions/continuations), drop from 30% to 15% in Perpetuity.
So yes, ALL Startups and Most small Publishers pay only 15% to Apple.
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will the EU let getaway with apps turning off when out of the EU?
Yes, regional restrictions on software/media is not illegal (should be but it isn't) and the EU knows its laws do not apply outside its borders. What Apple does in other countries is their (that country's) problem.
what if when no network then no non apple apps?
Not sure what you mean here. Your apps already don't go anywhere if you don't have a network connection.
will you need to buy an EU apple phone that will not work at all in the USA and UK?
Nope, that is illegal as the product will be considered not fit for purpose if it only works in certain countries. Especially as the countries in the EU can change and Europeans travel.
Howeve
Moving to the EU (Score:1)
Geolocation-based lockdowns (Score:5, Interesting)
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iOS has a daemon which allows/disallows specific features based upon detected physical location.
Time to take my iPhone inside an EU embassy in the US where the EU laws apply then, and then go to start installing apps.
Re:Geolocation-based lockdowns (Score:4)
I must be boring at parties but it does not work. Embassies are not exclaves. According to the 1961 Vienna Convention https://en.wikisource.org/wiki... [wikisource.org] , the host country facilitates the acquisition of premises for the fulfilment of the Mission (Art. 21), the premises are protected by inviolability (Art. 22), the activities are exempted of taxes (Art. 23). The flag of the guest can be used not because the law of the host would not apply, but because the Convention explicitly grants permission to hoist the flag of the guest on the Embassy premises (Art. 20).
Nothing says that different laws apply, the laws of the host countries always apply, just the premises are inviolable and the personnel has immunity.
After the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] in Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey did investigate the murder; Turkish police had to ask permission for police to enter and search the embassy. Luminol could not be used on the walls as Saudi objected. Turkey obviously could not jail anyone due to immunity.
Consulates are protected in similar terms as Embassies, see their dedicated Convention https://en.wikisource.org/wiki... [wikisource.org] (use of the flag Art. 29, inviolability Art. 31, exemption of tax Art. 32).
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Do they?
I had my iPhone still on the UK app store for a good 2-3 years after I moved to NZ, never experienced any difference in behaviour.
Warranty will be lost if sideloading (Score:2)
Obvious move.
Re:Warranty will be lost if sideloading (Score:4, Interesting)
Obvious but wrong.
This would be illegal in Europe.
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Obviously. Always fascinating how disconnected from reality some people are...
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The reality, is US consumers have less rights. While the FTC works tirelessly to punish many misdemeanors, there are consumer safety laws being abused daily with zero reprisal.
The reality is, Apple has worked hard to skirt and wilfuly fracture EU laws (eg. Illegal tax concessions from Ireland).
It's difficult to understand, other countries are better at protecting the consumer.