Apple finally has given his arm to twist before the Digital Markets Law of the European Union. The company confirmed that it will allow the sideloading on the iPhone through third-party app stores, but it’s not the only momentous change. To the joy of many, The App Store will accept alternative payment methods.
As Apple explained in its announcement, developers may choose to use other providers to process payments related to digital goods and services. Additionally, users will have the ability to initiate an in-app purchase and complete it on the company’s external website.
Another important change coming to the App Store is that developers will have the ability to report on offers, promotions or discounts available outside of the applications. Something that Spotify, in fact, has already shown these days.
Of course, this modification to the App Store’s payment policy is not something that Apple takes lightly. Furthermore, it is important to emphasize that the change It will only be available to users in member countries of the European Union.
On the other hand, Cupertino will force developers to clearly report when downloaded applications use alternative payment methods. Likewise, they will have to clarify that, when processing purchases in-appthe public will no longer be transacting with Apple.
The App Store incorporates alternative payment methods and lowers its commissions
With the implementation of alternative payment methods, Apple has had to come up with a solution to prevent developers from abandoning the conventional option that has historically been used in the App Store. That is why they announced reductions in commissions which is carried by the Californian firm.
Under the new business scheme, iOS apps distributed in the App Store They will pay a 17% commissioninstead of the traditional 30%, when they include transactions in-app for digital goods or services. In the case of applications that Apple considers “small business”, the cut that the company will take will be only the 10%.
Yes, Apple will charge an additional 3% fee in apps that use the App Store payment processing system. This will not impact those who use alternative payment methods or links to external payments, logically.
Finally, those from Cupertino have introduced a new “core technologies” rate. It will be 50 euro cents for each first annual installation, once the apps exceed 1 million downloads in the European Union. In this case, the commission will apply both to apps that are installed from the App Store and through third-party stores.
Opening the iPhone’s NFC
The other great news in terms of financial businesses is that, finally, Apple will allow third parties to access the NFC chip of the iPhone and Apple Watch. This is something that has been demanded of Cupertino for a long time, to the point that it was already causing short circuits with the European Commission.
Going forward, Apple will no longer limit the use of NFC to Apple Pay. The company indicated that it will introduce new APIs so that developers of digital wallets or banking applications can use the chip for contactless payments. This will be available in all countries that make up the European Economic Area.
For their part, in the EU users They will be able to configure another application other than Apple Pay as the default for payments contactless. All of these modifications, along with changes to the App Store and the sideloadingwill be available from March with the release of iOS 17.4.