Last week, Apple announced its new App Store rules after the European Union ordered it to change the way it carries on business in the region. While it allowed third-party apps for iPhones in the region, it is laying a 50 euro cents fee for app developers which is being criticised by various tech giants like Spotify, and Epic Games and now even Microsoft has criticised them. The new move by Apple potentially impacts the third-party app stores including developers and apps within them. Most recently, Microsoft reacted to Apple’s App Store rules by saying, “a step in the wrong direction.”
How Microsoft reacted to Apple’s new App Store rules
To comply with European Union technology requirements, Apple has announced new rules for their App store in which they will allow third-party app stores for iPhones with a Core Technology Fee on the app developers. According to the Verge report, app developers have to pay a 50 euro cents fee for each annual app install after 1 million downloads. Additionally, Apple will charge a 17 percent commission for third-party payment processors. After the announcement, various apps criticised the move. Sarah Bond, Xbox president shared a statement on X saying, “Apple’s new policy is a step in the wrong direction. We hope they listen to feedback on their proposed plan and work towards a more inclusive future for all.”
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Microsoft is currently working to launch their Xbox mobile store which will have famous gaming titles such as Call of Duty: Mobile, Candy Crush Saga, and others. This mobile store will be completely separated from Apple and Google stores, making it run independently.
Now, with the new Apple app store rules, it may create a hurdle to run the mobile store in the region. Earlier, Epic Games CEO had reacted by saying that the new rules are “hot garbage.” Epic has had a long-running dispute with Apple over its App Store rules and the case had been dragging in courts till recently.
Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, in an X post that, “Apple’s DMA announcement (that took a while), which is, at best vague and misleading.”
The new App Store rules have hundreds of millions of dollars riding on them for all popular apps running on the third-party app store and it is still being debated whether Apple will pull back and announce a fresh set of rules.
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