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Question- Would I theoretically be able to use a VPN to access alternative app stores from the US?
No. Even physically visiting Europe for a week probably won't let you access alternative app stores. You probably need your Apple ID to be in an European country.

The whole process to change countries is pretty involved; you need a EU payment method, cancel all your subscriptions, spend all your gift-card balance, leave your Family Sharing circle...
 
Until the apps that used to be available in the App Store start moving to alternative app stores.
The core technology fee is basically a poison pill. I would be very surprised if many alternate app stores spring up. Unless the EU says nope to Apple’s proposal.
 
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When iOS 17.4 is released, there will be new Marketplace Apps in European App Stores that you can choose to download
No there won't. Marketplace Apps have to be downloaded from the developer's website and are not allowed in Apple's App Store.
 
How many specifically factor in the lack of ability to sideload into the "positives" column when weighing their decision to go with an iPhone?
Probably a lot. Safe, secure and privacy respecting are major selling points for the iPhone. They might not understand the technicalities of how Apple achieves that but it’s an attractive proposition. There’s potential here for that to be damaged. But at least Apple can blame someone else for that damage.
 
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No and I absolutely understand that argument. But that’s kind of an American thing all around. If you don’t like one bad choice, you can choose the other bad choice.

It is possible to choose a platform but also still want that platform and its owner to be a little better.

America’s motto should change to “Choose The Lesser Evil”
At the expense of people who think you are making it worse, especially when it’s being changed AFTER purchase. Talk about bait and switch.
 
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Why is it OK for the Mac to run arbitrary code but not the iPhone?
That is because Apple, who owns the IP around MacOS and iOS, has chosen different market strategies for monetizing their IP on Mac and iPhone.
 
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Game stores..
Emulator stores..

Nah .. bet it'll be Adult app stores to be the first to submit their notarization docs.
 
Can Netflix have their app on multiple stores? If so, does each one have a different app identifier? (Probably does.) So can you sign up in the cheaper app, then sign in on the Apple App Store version? The subscription doesn't exist on the Apple App Store version, but does Netflix check for that or just that you have a valid account?
Yes, you can put apps into multiple stores. It is not really clear to me if they need different identifiers, but you supposedly need to uninstall/reinstall to switch stores.

So, should Netflix open their own App Store? Well, you can't open an App Store just to sell your own apps, so that's unlikely. Plus, it would cost too much for Netflix to get into the App Store business - with all the extra admin & costs that come with it.
Netflix does have games, but they are all first party games. The CTF means that you become motivated to have 'super apps' anyway since you'll be paying multiple times for multiple apps.
 
This will just make any decent free app developers go out of business or pull out of the EU market altogether. I hope for the benefit of all that the EU throws it out and asks Apple to go back to the drawing board.
What's to stop them using the existing App Store ?

The EU only cares about the big developers anyhow, this was never about the little fish or consumers.
 
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That’s not really the point though is it? The average Joe can download stuff the exact same way they used to and skip the alt stores entirely. These users experience will be exactly the same.

I’m sure Apple will make it clear when trying to install these stores that it’s not a good idea if they don’t know what they’re doing
I don’t think you understand my comment.

Mac and PC were “open” from the start. iPhone has never been open. Also, do you have a response to people’s concerns about apps being *exclusively* behind an app marketplace? Something like “In order to download Microsoft Word, you must download the Microsoft Store marketplace on your iPhone.”?
 
The issue was that apps like Netflix and Spotify or games like Fortnite are so popular that they don’t need App Store’s discovery feature. So they don’t feel that the huge commission is justified as it also makes them uncompetitive.
I never thought about it this way. It makes so much sense.

I love everything apple, but I feel that we don't truly have the features and freedom we could on iOS-based devices as we have with our Macs and PCs
 
I understand why Apple wants to vet the apps to prevent malware…

If that was what Apple wanted to prevent it would have pushed for PWA tech. Yet it has been dragging their feet. Actually for EU they constrained the features even further in response to the regulation as it seams.

Maybe you don’t know what PWA is, but people that do know really like to eat ice creams with their foreheads when it comes to Apple.

This is all about Apple controlling the flow of money through people’s devices. That is the strategy while presenting people with Pink Elephants for a deal.

Look. Apple is just doing what is best for them. I’m just point it out the line of thinking that they do this for people benefit. The benefit is only that you get a very nice device, camera, UI and OS (App Store apart). That is all. All other facilities are provided by third party businesses.

PS: Take MacOS for instance. It is working very well, there are no user complaints apart from the costs of repairs (has it already closed it down). But they have been compaigning to close it down like iOS.
 
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That's one perspective, but not the only one.

Another is that the iOS world will become like Windows, and in some ways like macOS, where apps, and entire app marketplaces, are eventually abandoned because they just couldn't make a go of it. That's the piece that developers have taken for granted with the App Store. They don't have to worry about the "health" of the marketplace that they distribute apps through. They don't have to worry about payment processing, support/help desks, etc. This is what the 30% has always paid for. Now they'll be on their own, and the true cost of developing, distributing and supporting apps will become real.

The true cost of that is actually cheaper than 30% of ones revenue. In no place on earth the distribution and billing of a digital assets costs 30% of the revenue.

The problem now is that Apple is charging 50c per App install on each device people own, and than 50c for each update. Imagine if MacRumours payed their host 50c a visitor considering that for each visit approximately as much data as a an App install is sent to the user browser. There would be no MacRumours.

This simple fact leads to no free or Freemium Apps outside the App Store. Giving Apple a competitive advantage over all other potential App Stores. Only Big tech like Facebook and X might have the capacity to bite this bullet that Apple has fired against their users. But in such a way that most will probably not understand.
 
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if the gatekeeper demonstrates that such measures are necessary and justified and that there are no less-restrictive means to safeguard the integrity of the hardware or operating system.
They haven't yet explained how they think these measures are essential and justified. And there is a less-restrictive means to safeguard the integrity of iOS: Gatekeeper, just like on Mac.
 
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That is because Apple, who owns the IP around MacOS and iOS, has chosen different market strategies for monetizing their IP on Mac and iPhone.
I love IP. It's this nebulous concept that can be spun both for and against Apple while meaning absolutely nothing in the contexts in which it's been used in these past weeks
 
Steam is one of the best things for gaming. I have a Steamdeck and love it! I agree and always prefer to buy Steam versions… all the other stores are a hassle. I used GoG but that disconnected too often from the linked stores (due to changing interfaces). I guess the other stores do not like initiatives like GoG…
Yeah, Steam is the biggest game store by far, having many more games than any Apple App store (or at last more good games). So the “look how fragmented PC gaming is!” isn’t a good argument. No app store or platform has all games, so the choice is between a platform with a single limited store, or a platform with a somewhat fragmented set of stores, but where the biggest one is better than the App Store (for games).
 
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