As Apple begins to allow other app stores on iPhones one entrepreneur criticises its behaviour.
This week Apple made the long-awaited landmark move to allow other companies to launch app stores on iPhones.
The tech giant was forced to act by EU lawmakers concerned about it having a market monopoly.
The decision is being watched closely around the world and was initially celebrated as an industry victory for businesses and consumers in the EU.
But Apple’s strict new rules and fees are being heavily criticised, with Spotify calling them « extortion ».
It is one of many companies, including Fortnite maker Epic Games, that has been pushing Apple to allow alternative app stores on iPhones.’Grey business’
The EU lawmakers hoped their rule change would encourage smaller challengers to enter the lucrative iPhone market.
« Apple says it’s opening up, but it still has a tight fist around iPhones », says Colton Adamski, a former hacker and businessman who lives near Chicago and is trying to launch one of the first alternative app shops in the EU.
The 22-year-old has been running an unofficial iPhone app store for more than six years.
It is, in his words, a « grey business » operating on the fringes of what is legal. For everywhere other than the EU, starting an app store is against Apple’s terms, and installing apps outside the official App Store is prohibited.
The process, known as side-loading, is common practice on Android phones, but Apple has forbidden it since launching the iPhone, arguing it is a security risk. Apps need to be verified through the official App Store, the tech giant has long said.
Apple charges an average 30% commission to apps using its store, which it says is for the protection of consumers. Although the fee is controversial, it is true that generally Apple is more successful at keeping malicious apps out than other marketplaces like Google’s Play Store.
Colton’s app shop has attracted hundreds of thousands of downloads of unofficial apps and games.
