Will There Be A New Mobile App Store?

Will There Be A New Mobile App Store?

The US Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration recently published a report saying that:

“the current mobile app store model is harmful to consumers and developers, and recommended policy changes to fix it.”

The two current largest mobile app distributor platforms, the App Store on iOS (owned by Apple) and the Google Play Store on Android (owned by Google), are said to currently act as gatekeepers.

For aspiring mobile app developers that want their app to be accessed by the masses, they must first get their app to be approved by one of the two companies listed above, to get published onto the platform. From there, both platforms also take a 30% fee from every purchase made inside their mobile app. There is a workaround to this for iOS developers. Although not as user-friendly, links to third-party payment options are allowed now, as Apple can no longer forbid them due to the outcomes of the 2020 Fortnite antitrust lawsuit.

A possible solution to resolve this is issue is a new third-party distributor. Let’s take a look at the computer world. On computers, it’s an entirely different story due to the fact that users are able to freely and easily download software applications from other places, such as the web, not being limited to their operating system’s distributor. Popular software distrubutors for games include: App Store, Microsoft Store, Steam, Epic Games Downloader, Origin, itch.io, and so much more. With more methods of distribution, there’s higher quality and a larger number of applications produced to compete with the ever changing landscape.