THE side-loading, that is to say the downloading of applications outside the usual framework of the App Store, is one of the major new features brought by the Digital Markets Act. Established last March by the European Commission, this legislative framework results, on the Old Continent only, in the opening of Gafam to competition, both in terms of search engines and default browsers and portals. downloading applications. This last point mainly concerned Apple, since iOS and iPadOS until then required going through the App Store, while Android already allowed you to use third-party stores.
If iPhones are officially eligible in Europe for third-party download portals, store publishers still had to offer them to Apple users. It is now done, since Aptoide announces its launch on iOS. Tiptoe availability, since it is first and foremost a question of reserving the portal for a small number of elected officials. Starting June 6 at 12 p.m. (French time), Aptoide will provide access codes to early users, at a rate of 500 to 1000 codes per day. The service, which intends to demonstrate its dominance in the application portal segment (it claims 400 million users worldwide to date), mentions a waiting list already reaching 20,000 people. And dares, in its countdown to June 6, to announce its “trip to release iOS in Europe” in reference to D-Day, surrounded by doves and V for victory. We will let you appreciate the good taste of this communication, at the dawn of the commemorations of June 6, 1944 on the beaches of Normandy.
Winning and games
What will we find on Aptoide for iOS? It will not be a question of downloading all types of applications, since the portal will be reserved for mobile games. The service promises “high-quality games and new features dedicated to iOS games, including a gamification function offering players bonuses of up to 10% of every purchase”. There is no question, for the moment, of opening the portal to more applications, and we learned from TechCrunch that only six games would be offered at the launch of the portal. Note that on the cost side, Aptoide will apply a commission on in-app purchases, up to 10 to 20% of the amounts spent.