When developers distribute their app via non-Apple appstores, they do not use any services of Apple, right?
Then how can Apple still charge them?
For what?
And how could Apple force them to pay?
Then how can Apple still charge them?
For what?
And how could Apple force them to pay?
After the first 1 million installations they will be charging a Core Technology Fee, which is a flat €0.50 per install. Every installation still needs to talk with an Apple server it seems (not 100% sure on this), so Apple should be able to track it.
An app like Spotify is using a bunch of Apple’s technology in their iOS app. UIKit and CoreAudio almost for certain.
I thought the whole point of alternative appstores is to do away with that?
* App approval is a lower bar to pass than App Store approval.
* Alternative stores can have different policies for which types of content are prohibited or for how monetization works. For example, they could allow R18 media, or accept payment via additional payment methods.
* Alternative stores can be cheaper.
* Alternative stores could also enforce their own rules that are superior to Apple's - for example you could have a store that guarantees everything on it is open-source and has been fuzzed, and they could promote that on some sort of a security basis.
But yes in practice "Apple still gets to decide whether you can put apps on iDevices, and you have to pay them for that" does defeat a lot of the purpose of the DMA.
Apple should be completely free to charge as they like for their toolchain.
But other toolchains will arise. And Apple's doesn't half stand on the shoulder of others.
Apple has structured this so that you still need an Apple developer account to release an app (because apps still have to be notarized to run on iOS regardless of where you download them, which is a process they control). So, they're still the gatekeeper, and can impose rules on you to pass through that gate on pain of having your access revoked.
Their argument is implicitly that they're allowing what the EU has required them to allow, and so anything else is fair game. In particular, that so long as they're allowing people access according to the EU's requirements, they're allowed to charge them for use of the platform.
I imagine that there'll be lawsuits / regulatory action from the EU to work out whether they're right, of course.
And apps still need signing, that’s how Apple still interact with the apps.
It’s fine to pay for the cloud services but those are low value.
I think Apple would argue that the developer fee was previously $99 + 30% of app sales, and that the developer fee is now $99 + $0.5 per install.
But the moment a device is dominant in the market and allows third party on the platform it results asking legitimate questions about competition.