When it comes to apps, there is more or less a duopoly of
Apple
and Google. Sure, there’s the Windows
app store
but Apple and
dominate the app marketplace. Now,
Meta
wants to challenge the two tech giants and is considering an app store of its own. According to a report by The Verge, the social media giant is looking to get people to download apps directly from
.
Ads the way Meta likes it
Meta is banking on the
European Union
’s (EU) Digital Markets Act. The report by The Verge suggests that Meta wants users to directly download apps from Facebook ads. And here’s where the EU’s legislation comes into picture. The legislation — passed in 2022 — calls out Apple and Google as “gatekeepers” and basically wants tech giants to open their closely-guarded platforms like the app stores. One of the things that the DMA suggests is that the likes of Apple and Google open their platforms so that there can be other methods of downloading apps.
According to the report, Meta wants developers to participate in a pilot program, which allows Facebook users to directly download from their ads. This will help in resulting in “higher conversion rates for their app install ads,” as per the report.
EU had made it clear that if these so-called gatekeepers do not comply with the rules, the Commission can impose fines of up to 10% of its total worldwide turnover in the preceding financial year, and 20% in case of repeated infringements. “In case of systematic infringements, the Commission may ban them from acquiring other companies for a certain time,” the
EU Commission
noted.
Meta spokesperson Tom Channick confirmed the plan to The Verge and said, “We’ve always been interested in helping developers distribute their apps, and new options would add more competition in this space. Developers deserve more ways to easily get their apps to the people that want them.”
