Apple Alternative Marketplace Requirements | Hacker News Reader

Apple Alternative Marketplace Requirements

5 pointsdt3ft4 comments

Is it just me, or is this just malicious compliance?

Good luck hosting a marketplace for say, foss apps, with this requirement set forth by Apple:

>Do either of the following: (1) Provide Apple a stand-by letter of credit in the amount of €1,000,000 from a financial institution that’s at least A-rated or equivalent by S&P, Fitch, or Moody’s, and maintain that standby letter of credit as long as your alternative app marketplace is in operation; or (2) be a member of good standing in the Apple Developer Program for two continuous years or more, and have an app that had more than one million first annual installs on iOS in the EU in the prior calendar year.

Source: https://developer.apple.com/support/alternative-app-marketplace-in-the-eu/

I dunno, doesn't seem like that big of a deal?

They say

> Operating an alternative app marketplace requires significant responsibility and oversight of the user experience

Having access to 1 million space bucks is indication of at least some responsibility. And being around for 2 years without breaking the rules and having an app people seem to like I guess shows responsibility too?

Apple wants someone to sue on behalf of their users if an Appstore does bad things. I don't think that's terribly unreasonable.

What would be the benefit for hosting a marketplace for FOSS apps in the first place?

A FOSS non-profit can apply for a gratis Apple developer account -- https://developer.apple.com/support/fee-waiver/

One reason is in the terms you linked:

  To be eligible, you must:

    - Be a legal entity with a status as a nonprofit organization1, accredited educational institution2, or government entity;
    - Not be an individual, sole proprietor, or single-person business;

There are a very high number of OSS developers not attached to a non-profit.

Right, so an organization like say, Mozilla could set up and run an App Store for FOSS stuff, but would it even make sense for them to do it?

For a comparable idea to say, F-Droid on iOS, an existing non-profit organization could step up and provide binaries of FOSS iOS apps today in the current app store. If one group did it, it would be easier to find the apps as you could browse by the company and see a wealth of FOSS apps.

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