We learned yesterday that the European Union plans to impose an App Store anti-steering ban on Apple. That means Apple will no longer be able to prevent her Spotify and other music services from linking to their website for subscription sign-ups.
The ruling we expect will likely be narrow, in response to a complaint filed by Spotify nearly four years ago, and apply only to streaming music services. However, this principle is sound and unlikely to pose a significant risk to Apple…
What is anti-steering?
The Spotify app is a very good example of this principle. If you decide to upgrade from a free account to a paid account after downloading the app, you will notice that there is no way to upgrade within the app.Not only that, the app won’t tell you that how You can subscribe. For example, there is no link to his website on Spotify.
App Store rules are the reason. Apple will make paid subscriptions available to people within iPhone apps. Must Please do so through Apple. The Cupertino company then receives a 15% or 30% cut.
The rules are so strict that apps can’t even use legal jargon to direct users to the developer’s website to subscribe. Prohibiting developers from directing users elsewhere to make purchases is known as anti-steering rules.
Anti-steering creates an unpleasant experience for users
This anti-steering rule results in a poor user experience. For consumers, it’s frustrating when they want to subscribe but the app doesn’t tell them how to do it.
The same goes for the Kindle app. Even if you finish one of his books in the series, you can’t buy the next one within the app, and Amazon isn’t even allowed to provide a link. Instead, you have to quit the app, open Safari, go to his website on Amazon, search for the book you want, and go back to the Kindle app to read it. It’s a terrible user experience.
This is especially unfair when Apple competes with third-party developers through Apple Music and Apple Books, respectively. The same is true in both cases. Apple gives its apps a huge unfair advantage over competing apps, to the detriment of users who prefer competing apps.
This change probably won’t hurt Apple too much.
Apple won’t lose money if its Spotify and Kindle apps are allowed to offer links to buy subscriptions and books. The company has not received a penny from either party so far.
There are other categories in which Apple can make a case for potential losses. If game companies are able to sell game subscriptions, they could lose some of Apple Arcade’s revenue. But once again, the interests of consumers should take precedence over Apple’s financial interests. And if Apple has to compete on a level playing field, that should spur it to deliver the best games.
The impact on competing app stores will likely be limited.
The ultimate extension of this anti-steering ban is to allow anyone to create their own iOS app store. This is expected to become mandatory in the EU, and Apple is already preparing for it.
But as we’ve discussed before, there are two reasons why even this doesn’t pose any kind of existential threat to Apple.
First, the average non-technical Apple customer I would choose Apple every time. If you give them the Apple app store and the Epic Games app store, the majority will choose his Apple app store.
Second, even if you are an engineer, generally I’m going to stick with Apple. One of the main reasons I buy Apple kits is because I actively like and value the Apple ecosystem. I like how everything is integrated because one company is doing everything. So even those who consider alternatives and what they can offer; still Most stick to Apple products.
and this is true all As we argued again, the company’s antitrust issues.
The vast majority of people have no intention of repairing their devices, using RCS, using Apple Wallet competitors, or purchasing apps from competing app stores.
Essentially, Apple has created a poor user experience and unfavorable PR by having these massive fights over what is likely to cost nothing more than a rounding error for a multi-trillion dollar company.
If this decision comes down as expected, I hope Apple accepts it graciously and moves on. what about you?
Photo: Jean-Philippe Delberge/Unsplash
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