Elon Musk shares his two cents on latest Apple App Store changes

X owner Elon Musk on Saturday joined the debate around Apple’s App Store changes in the European Union (EU) ahead of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in March, saying these changes are “very concerning.” The world’s richest man reacted to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek who posted on X that Apple’s DMA announcement is, “at best vague and misleading”. To which, Musk said these changes are very concerning. He, however, did not divulge more on the hot issue.

To comply with the latest DMA regulations in the European Union, Apple has announced that it will allow iPhone users to sideload app marketplaces. While this may sound like a welcome move, in addition to changes that allow more leeway to both customers and developers in the EU such as making payments outside of the App Store, the developer community is not quite happy. While Apple is bound to comply with EU’s rules to offer more options, it is not bound on how it can monetise the upcoming changes. Apple, thus, has confirmed that it will charge an extra fee depending on what developers choose for the processing of in-app purchases. The upcoming new App Store tax is the real bone of contention.

Apple has announced changes to iOS, Safari, and the App Store in the European Union in response to the DMA coming into force in March. The key news is that third-party app stores will be allowed on iOS for the first time. The changes will arrive with iOS 17.4 in March. Users in the EU will be able to use third-party app stores to download apps and even set their favourite one as the default one. This would also involve allowing users to download apps that otherwise violate the App Store’s policy, for instance, Fortnite.

In August last year, the tech billionaire had said he would speak to Apple CEO Tim Cook to lower the App Store Tax. “While we had previously said that X would keep nothing for the 12 months, then 10 per cent, we are amending that policy to X keeps nothing forever, until payout exceeds $100k, then 10 per cent. First 12 months is still free for all,” he posted. He further said that Apple does take 30 per cent, “but I will speak with @tim_cook and see if that can be adjusted to be just 30 per cent of what X keeps to maximise what creators receive.”

— Written with inputs from IANS