Apple recently announced changes to the way iOS apps can be distributed and paid for in the EU. In this article, I'll dig in to what has changed, who is affected, and what action needs to be taken.
"this [referring to core technology fee] does include app updates as well as new downloads"
Before I did some additional research, I took issue with this. It encourages developers to push new updates to production less frequently. Which could disadvantage EU users because if I typically release security fixes as soon as I possibly can, but also do a bi-weekly update, I'm holding my EU alt store release until my normal cadence. This is extra days of exposure to a security flaw for EU users. But upon learning that the CTF only applies once per year, my concern is lessened. If it was *every single update* that would be very bad.
I agree that Apple is adhering to the letter of the law while also making sure they don't create a more compelling offering than their own store, to the degree that it is possible to do so. I'm really following the impact of the DMA on EU mobile users because I think depending on the successes, lessons learned, etc, many other countries are going to follow suit with similar regulation.
"this [referring to core technology fee] does include app updates as well as new downloads"
Before I did some additional research, I took issue with this. It encourages developers to push new updates to production less frequently. Which could disadvantage EU users because if I typically release security fixes as soon as I possibly can, but also do a bi-weekly update, I'm holding my EU alt store release until my normal cadence. This is extra days of exposure to a security flaw for EU users. But upon learning that the CTF only applies once per year, my concern is lessened. If it was *every single update* that would be very bad.
I agree that Apple is adhering to the letter of the law while also making sure they don't create a more compelling offering than their own store, to the degree that it is possible to do so. I'm really following the impact of the DMA on EU mobile users because I think depending on the successes, lessons learned, etc, many other countries are going to follow suit with similar regulation.