There are major changes underway for the Apple App Store according to Bloomberg’s industry insider Mark Gurman. Following intervention from the EU — which led to Apple allowing alternative app stores on its devices — a second App Store team will be handling apps from other sources.
“Apple fellow” Phil Schiller, who leads the App Store, will be dividing the current App Store team into two. Furthermore, Matt Fischer — who has been Vice President in charge of the App Store and Apple Arcade — is leaving the company after a very long tenure. Fischer announced his departure with a heartfelt trip down memory lane, and welcomed the two people who would be taking over the newly created teams.
It stands to reason that this second team will only be required for the EU, where Apple was forced to allow alternative sources for downloading apps. How precisely this team will manage alternative downloads isn’t known yet. If I had to guess, in addition to ensuring that apps from certain stores are safe, the team might also be in charge of educating users on how to remain safe when downloading these apps.
EU users can now download games from other stores. Spooky. | Image credit — PhoneArena
Apple pushed back quite hard against allowing apps from third party sources. The company argued that users would be much more at risk compared to before when the App Store was king. But the EU doesn’t mess around in enforcing what it deems fair, so Apple had to knock down one of the walls surrounding its garden.
After multiple other losses against the EU, Apple is currently not bringing Apple Intelligence to the region. This, in my opinion, makes the upcoming iPhone 16 a lot less desirable in the EU compared to other markets. Especially because AI is going to be such a major part of iPhone 16 that Apple is including AI in the sales pitch.
The iPhones have been some of the best phones ever made for many years. But with recent developments it seems the EU might get a very different experience with Apple products moving forward.
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Abdullah is an ardent believer in the future of VR, and can't wait to see what more it brings to the table as technology improves. He enjoys covering new software releases in the XR industry, as well as major news about hardware and companies focused on VR.
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