Amidst the row of updates and new regulations across the tech world, Meta is all set to allow its users in the European Union (EU) to download apps through Facebook ads. This move comes as the company plans to compete with Google’s and Apple’s app stores in the future.
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The Verge has claimed that they have discovered that the new kind of advertisement is slated to launch as a test with a select group of Android app developers as early as this year. The Digital Markets Act (DMA), a new rule in the EU that is anticipated to take effect in the next spring, looks like the perfect opportunity for Meta to attempt this. It considers Apple and Google to be “gatekeepers.” Further, what is required is that they open up their mobile platforms to alternative methods of downloading apps.
Although Google makes it challenging by integrating in-app billing and licencing with the Play Store and by displaying ominous warnings whenever someone attempts to download an Android app from a different source, Android theoretically supports sideloading already. Even then, Meta has expressed its plans to run its test on Android first rather than Apple’s iOS, since it believes that it is the safer route.
By hosting their Android apps on Facebook and enabling direct downloads from Facebook without forcing the users to visit the Play Store, Meta’s pitch to developers taking part in the experiment is that they will experience improved conversion rates for their app install advertisements. Developers in the experiment might still use whichever billing system they like because, at least initially, Meta doesn’t aim to receive a percentage of in-app income from participating apps.
The Verge has reported that Tom Channick, who is a spokesperson for Meta, has confirmed the plan in a statement sent over email, saying, “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.”
However, Meta is not alone in this race to become a distributor of mobile apps. Back in March, even Microsoft expressed its plans to launch an alternative app store for games on iOS and Android when the EU’s DMA comes into effect.
Microsoft is planning to introduce a new app store for games if its $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard goes through. According to the EU’s Digital Markets Act, new regulations mandating Apple and Google to open up their mobile platforms to app stores owned and run by other businesses are anticipated to go into effect starting in March 2024.
The chief executive of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer, said in an interview, “We want to be in a position to offer Xbox and content from both us and our third-party partners across any screen where somebody would want to play.” This came ahead of the annual Game Developers Conference that was held in San Francisco.
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