Apple gets ready for app sideloading on EU iPads

Apple didn’t make a song and dance about it during this week’s iPhone 16 launch, but one other thing that’s about to change (at least in Europe) is that it will support third-party app stores with the release of iPad OS 18. (It already supports this on iPhones in the EU.

We knew this was coming. 

European regulators decided Apple needed to open up its platform earlier this year when they imposed requirements in the Digital Markets Act (DMA). What we don’t yet know is the extent to which the move to open up iPads and iPhones to this kind of competition will leave European customers vulnerable to security and privacy attacks. 

Changing the story

We also don’t yet know whether every store that appears will be legitimate, or whether their security procedures will be as rock solid as those Apple provides. 

In part, that’s because we can’t predict how stable those regimes will become, or the extent to which increasingly well-resourced hackers will identify and exploit vulnerabilities in third-party app shops. That’s the big experiment that’s really taking place here, and we won’t see the results of this regulatory dedication to market ‘liberalization’ for some time to come.

It’s hard to believe Apple is having a good time in Europe. The bloc just demanded $14 billion in tax from the company, and regulators seem resistant to giving Apple the transparency it needs before offering Apple Intelligence there. 

Your private answer

Privacy is a core commitment to Apple. It works hard to protect it. And yet, the regulators say the company’s demand for transparency around how the DMA will be applied to these features in the EU shows how anti-competitive the company is.

That’s a stretch. Apple’s argument is predicated on the nature of the personal data its system can access on devices. That information is personal, and the company is committed to keeping it that way. This’s why Apple Intelligence is being developed as a super-private AI service you can use when you want to hold your data close. 

If Apple finds itself forced to make that information available to third parties, then what will be the consequences on personal privacy? When you have a regulator who seems to think it’s a victory to play ‘Fortnite’ on her iPhone, then Apple would probably prefer to negotiate with someone possessed of more nuance. Sometimes things get worse before they get better.

Opening up…

Context aside, the addition of iPads to the open market does expand the number of potential consumers third-party stores can approach. 

However, it’s fair to say that developers have so far been pretty slow at taking Apple up on the terms under which it has so far offered to open up app store access. I suspect further compromise will be reached, but I also think Apple has the right to ensure its business is sustainable; I doubt critics will get a free ride, no matter how entitled to one they believe they are. 

In the end, the big question around the matter never seems to be asked. No one yet has stuck their neck above the parapet to ask how much profit a business should legitimately make? It is amusing the extent to which business-backed political entities everywhere want to avoid defining an ethical approach to profit margins. 

Perhaps they fear losing election contributions if they do.

Let the games begin

Nevertheless, the Great European App Store experiment is under way, and while the number of third-party stores that have appeared so far is limited, this may change. As well as Apple’s App Store, European iPhone and iPad users can now pick between Setapp Mobile, AltStore PAL, Aptoid, Mobivention, and the Epic Games Store. (Two of these are games stores, one a B2B white label app distro service, SetApp is an app subscription service, and Aptoid is an open-source friendly indie app store.)

From baby acorns, new trees grow. But the way I expect this to play out is that as the number of such stores grows, the sector will become more competitive, and then grow a bit until M&A action starts. Once the inevitable market consolidation does take place, it seems reasonable to expect we’ll end up with a couple of stores that have unique USPs, and two or three larger concerns, one of which may (or may not) be Apple’s App Store. 

That’s assuming Apple’s concerns around platform security and third-party apps are never realized; if they are, consumers will flock to the only secure store they know. As of Monday, EU consumers on iPads as well as iPhone will be able to try their luck. Good luck with that.

Please follow me on LinkedIn, Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill group on MeWe.