Apple is opening up its iPhone to app stores other than the App Store. It is doing so, by the way, mainly because of the European Union. You would think that other providers would be happy, but nothing could be further from the truth. Microsoft has its doubts.
Starting in March, the iPhone is going to change for good. Where for years Apple had the sole right to sell apps through the App Store, it will soon have to allow other providers.
Something Apple is not waiting for, by the way, since it could lose quite a bit of revenue if people don’t download their app through the App Store. To still get the most out of it, it has imposed quite a few rules on other stores and is trying to discourage app makers from offering their creation through other channels.
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Microsoft not happy with Apple’s App Store plans
So Microsoft is not happy with all the rules surrounding the App Store. “The new rules are a step in the wrong direction,” Xbox boss Sarah Bond said on Twitter. “We believe in constructive conversations so we can make progress in open platforms and therefore better competition. We hope Apple listens to feedback on their proposed plan and wants to work together toward a more inclusive future for all of us.”
But why exactly is Microsoft not happy? It probably has to do with this rule: Apple forces developers to pay $0.50 per app download after 1 million downloads. It also charges a 17% commission from developers who choose to have payments made by a third party.
Microsoft actually wants to open its own Xbox Store on an iPhone, but the new rules may thus make it more unattractive for game makers to offer their game through the Xbox Store and they may be more likely to choose Apple’s App Store.
In addition, with Call of Duty Mobile and Candy Crush Saga, it has two great games on its hands for the iPhone. So if Microsoft has to cede $0.50 per download to Apple, the costs could go up significantly for the company.
Playing Xbox games on your iPhone (Image: Nacon)
‘Extortion’ and ‘garbage’
Microsoft is certainly not the only company expressing concerns about the App Store plans. Epic Games is not happy either. CEO Tim Sweeney called the new rules “Hot garbage.” He then called it an example of Apple doing everything it can to thwart European rules. Spotify is going even further. The company calls the new rules “extortion.”
The big question is whether the European Union will simply accept Apple’s plans. Still, Apple’s legal department will have done everything in its power to use even the smallest loopholes for the App Store. Perhaps, then, new, improved rules will be needed.
Work to be done for the European Union
Yet it is precisely ironic that Microsoft in particular is now complaining about Apple’s rules. After all, the company itself does not allow other providers on the Xbox itself. There, you can only buy digital games through the Xbox Store.
So there seems to be some work to be done for the European Union to pull this all together, because there really seems to be a lot to be done before there is a level playing field for multiple providers on every platform. So that applies to Apple’s App Store as well as other providers.
