App stores, typically Apple App Store, Google Play, or Huawei AppGallery, are an integral part of the mobile world. We can't imagine the mobile ecosystem or even the computer world without the convenient and relatively secure installation of applications. It seems like everyone has their own app store these days. Could Meta join the game soon?
Apple and Google face competition
Meta could offer an app store due to a new EU law concerning digital markets. This Digital Markets Act (DMA) is set to come into effect next spring, pushing Apple and Google to open their mobile platforms to alternative download methods. But what does that actually mean?
Facebook users could download apps through ads displayed on this popular social network. Within the EU market, Meta, or rather Facebook, could start competing directly with Apple and Google. Simply put, when you click on an ad for an app on Facebook, instead of being redirected to a store, you would install it directly.
Photo by Souvik Banerjee on Unsplash
Facebook’s apps are getting closer
As reported by The Verge, a pilot program for downloading apps directly from Facebook is set to launch at the end of this year, initially for a few developers. At least with Android, there shouldn’t be any problem in this regard, as the system itself allows app installation outside of the store, although this action is accompanied by numerous security warnings.
Testing this novelty within Android makes sense, and Meta is currently trying to convince developers that the option of installing outside the main store will not have a negative impact on them. The conversion rate of ads to installations should be higher than with traditional store installations, and Meta, at least initially, does not plan to reduce developers’ revenue from specific installations.
Meta is not alone in this
The fact is that Meta is not the only company planning to become an app distributor. Microsoft also plans to launch its app store for iOS and Android in the EU next year. So it looks like we will soon have quite a few installation channels to choose from in Europe to get apps onto our devices.
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