Apple is looking to impose fees as it prepares for a digital markets law in Europe

to applethe opening of the ecosystem is well underway in Europe.

However, with it comes the potential for some additional revenue streams.

What is happening in Europe, with Apple at the epicenter, may be a harbinger for major technology companies in general, operating on the continent.

Last week, Apple made a move to provide competitors with access to its tap-to-pay mobile wallet system. The offer appears to be geared towards ending the EU's antitrust case.

And now Apple is preparing Side loadinga term and practice that entails sourcing and installing apps on Apple devices outside of the company's hardware App Store. Reports said that alongside the change, Apple plans to impose a fee – which has not yet been determined – on developers who offer downloads.

Apple's actions come in anticipation of a March deadline for compliance Digital Markets Law Requirements regarding software downloads and how to access and download the software. The law was passed in 2022; Its principles have been advanced over time. The so-called “gatekeepers”, that is, the large online platforms, are affected here. Beyond Apple, there is Google And deadamong other things.

What is changing in Europe?

The concessions Apple is making ahead of the March deadline suggest that the big tech companies will retool at least some of their operations. The European Commission noted on its website that the DMA would require platforms to allow third parties to do so Interaction With special gatekeeper services in certain situations and allowing business users to access data they generate while using the gatekeeper platform, among other directives.

The consequences of non-compliance can be onerous, with penalties of up to 10% of a company's total annual revenue worldwide or up to 20% in the case of repeat violations.

apples Profits It turns out that the company gets a quarter of its sales from Europe. The services segment was a major revenue driver, with double-digit percentages rising as hardware sales were mixed. Charging for sideloading may be a way to mitigate some of the top line lost when reconfiguring App Store practices. google mother, the alphabetand showed that about 29% of sales It came from the region, as detailed in the latest quarterly earnings report.

It remains to be seen whether Apple will actually charge for sideloading, and/or whether such fees will be successful. Developers and other critics are already taking issue with the company over the roughly 27% commission that will be charged on payments made outside the US App Store.

As for other platforms, the door may be open to charge fees for “open” ecosystems and make content/data and apps more widely available across the 27-nation bloc, ostensibly to help.

There are already some precedents that have led to platforms holding back a bit from submitting new offers to the EU. Meta, for example, took several months to bring Threads To Europe and began offering a subscription option for Facebook And Instagram users there.