EU hails ‘change’ as Apple opens App Store to competition

The European Union’s digital enforcer celebrated on Friday the “change” underway in the tech world after Apple yielded to a new EU law by announcing it would allow alternative app stores on the iPhone for the first time.

The significant overhaul, which will take place in March when the European Union’s sweeping Digital Markets Act comes into force, will curtail the dominance of the App Store, which has been a mainstay of the iPhone since 2008.

“The DMA will open the gates of the internet to competition so that digital markets are fair and open,” European internal market commissioner Thierry Breton said. “Change is already happening.”

With the major changes announced by Apple on Thursday, users will for the first time be able to download software from outside the App Store and they will be given new options to process payments.

Other changes include giving users the option to download an alternative web browser when they first open Safari in the latest version of the iOS operating system. Until now, users had to go into the settings to change the default browser.

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