To the frustration of customers and developers alike, Apple’s “walled garden” ecosystem design allows it to grab up to a 30% share of iOS software and service revenues. However, a recent rumor claims that Apple intends to open up its ecosystem, a move that might help apps based on NFTs and potentially increase the number of mobile crypto payment options.
According to insiders familiar with Apple’s intentions, the company intends to make it possible for iPhones and iPads to install software from places other than its own App Store. The adjustments are being made in response to the Digital Markets Act of the European Union, which mandates that digital businesses fully adhere to limitations by 2024.
According to the company’s customary annual release timetable, iOS 17 is anticipated to debut next fall and will purportedly include the functionality.
In order to comply with the new regulation, the distribution of support for external apps from third-party sources and marketplaces will at first start solely in Europe. Nevertheless, if other countries adopt comparable laws, the capability might be extended to those areas.
As opposed to requiring developers to route payments through Apple’s own payments network, the news publishing house reports that the company is still debating whether to permit third-party apps to use their own payment infrastructure. If put into practice, that particular change might make using iPhone and iPad apps to spend cryptocurrency considerably simpler.
The rumoured changes coincide with a growing backlash against Apple’s closed environment, which not only philosophically opposes Web3’s decentralised philosophy but has actually resulted in limitations on how NFT assets can be used by apps. NFTs cannot be used to gate access to features or content within apps, according to an update to Apple’s developer guidelines published in October.
Apple charges a 30% fee on NFT purchases as well, which may make it impossible to enforce the restriction on secondary market sales. Users cannot buy or sell NFTs using the iOS apps for marketplaces like OpenSea and Magic Eden; they can only browse them.
Industry leaders like Dan Finlay, co-founder of popular crypto wallet app MetaMask have said on occasions that they are against Apple’s “abuse of monopoly.”
Applications for NFT and cryptocurrencies that are now constrained or hindered by App Store rules may gain from Apple’s rumored ambitions to open up its ecosystem. Such programmes may then be downloaded from other sources and would no longer be subject to Apple’s rigorous standards, however Bloomberg claims that Apple may add more “security measures” for third-party apps.
The move may also help the expanding Web3 metaverse, as it is commonly rumored that Apple is working on a mixed reality headgear that might be released as early as 2023. With the goal of creating a metaverse characterized by platform interoperability, several Web3 developers are employing NFTs to indicate ownership of assets that are freely usable across spaces.
In July 2022, Apple and Google were cornered by Senator Sherrod Brown from Ohio—who also happens to be the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee— for information on what they’re doing to stop bogus cryptocurrency programmes that have allegedly defrauded investors of more than $42 million.
Brown claimed that cybercriminals have stolen the names, logos, and other identifying information of cryptocurrency firms. They then created phoney mobile apps to defraud poor unsuspecting investors into thinking they are doing business with a real cryptocurrency firm.