Apple plans to create a version of the App Store that will allow slides to be uploaded to the EU under new rules – Technology

MADRID, 16 years (Portaltic/EP)

Apple is considering offering a different version of the App Store in the European Union (EU) that allows “sideloading” or side-by-side downloading and thus meets the requirements of the Digital Markets Act (DMA, for its acronym). . in English).

The Digital Markets Act sets out a set of criteria to regulate companies considered gatekeepers, who must accept a number of obligations and prohibitions to ensure fair competition in the digital sector.

This means that companies such as Meta, Apple or Google, which have a market value of at least 75 billion euros and have more than 45 million monthly users in the EU, will have to bear responsibilities such as sharing their data, including links that lead users on other competitors in the sector and ensure compatibility of its services with other applications of competing companies.

Since this law aims to end the monopoly of these tech giants, Apple must find a way to allow “slide downloading”, the installation of applications outside of mechanisms offered by the company itself, in European countries, since the DMA requires developers to be able to distribute their applications outside official store of the brand.

For this reason, Cupertino residents are considering the possibility of splitting the App Store to offer an additional version to the current one, allowing you to download applications from third-party services in the European Union, as Mark Gurman recently proposed. and picks up MacRumors.

This means Apple must implement these changes to comply with the new legal requirements by March 7, after which the tech company must also allow developers to promote their services outside of the App Store.

The journalist already commented on a similar feature in iOS 17 several months ago, in April last year. He then announced that sources close to Tim Cook’s company had noted that they would not be introducing “sideloading” globally and that it could not be implemented in the United States either.

In recent days, Margrethe Vestager, executive vice-president of the European Commission, head of the EU’s digital age and competition commissioner, recently met with some of the leaders of these companies, such as Google CEO Sundar Pichai. and Apple’s Tim Cook, whom he visited at the company’s headquarters in Silicon Valley, California.

In a meeting with Apple’s CEO, Vestager commented to X (formerly Twitter) that there were “two main points” discussed regarding its services’ DMA compliance, “such as Apple’s commitment to allow app distribution.” outside the App Store”, as well as other ongoing cases with the EU Competition Department, such as the case brought against Apple Music for unfair competition in relation to Spotify.