news@appleinsider.com (William Gallagher)
2024-05-02 11:03:32
appleinsider.com
Despite the EU claiming that the iPad qualifies under its Digital Markets Act as a gatekeeper when it does not yet, Apple has announced that it will comply regardless.
“Today, we have brought Apple’s iPadOS within the scope of the DMA obligations,” announced Vestager. “Our market investigation showed that despite not meeting the thresholds, iPadOS constitutes an important gateway on which many companies rely to reach their customers.”
Now Apple has announced that it will be complying with the EU’s decision. Consequently, third-party App Stores will be supported on iPadOS, though Apple has not given a specific date. The support will come with an update to iPadOS in the fall.
This support will be identical to that now provided to iPhone and iOS developers, and it will come with the same conditions. So it remains that developers will only be able to create third-party app stores, or distribute iPad apps directly from their websites, for users within the European Union’s 27 member countries.
With exceptions, that fee is tied to how many times an app has a first install during a year. Apple now says that if a user installs the same app on both iPhone and iPad within the same year, it will only count as a single first annual install.