Meta wants to become the next App Store and Google Play Store, at least, in the European market. As reported The Vergethe company wants to take advantage of the new Digital Markets Law to make Facebook a kind of app store for iPhone and Android users, albeit in a very different way than Apple and Google do.
Mark Zuckerberg’s firm, specifically, seeks to allow European users who use Facebook download applications directly through ads displayed on the social network. The aforementioned medium has been able to learn that Meta’s plan is to start testing this function on Android with a handful of selected developers. Later, they will expand the feature to iOS, for iPhone users.
In the case of Android, Meta has it really easy to move forward with its plan to make Facebook a kind of app store. Google’s operating system allows you to download applications from third-party stores. Despite the fact that the Mountain View company does make the process difficult for users with additional steps to install an app and warnings about possible risks when downloading files from unknown sources.
In iOS, however, the company led by Mark Zuckerberg will rely, we reiterate, on the Digital Markets Law, which is expected to come into force next spring. One of the measures of this new law is, precisely, to oblige the companies that own operating systems to open their platforms to app stores or alternative download methods. iOS 17 is expected to include this option in the entire European market, although Apple, for the moment, has not offered more details about it.
Facebook will not charge any commission to the developers, at least for the moment
Meta also highlights a series of advantages for those developers who invest in advertising on Facebook to promote their applications. First, the fact that users can download the app directly from the ad means higher conversion for the advertiser. Target, in addition, does not plan to apply a commission for each download or purchase in the apps that are downloaded through the ads. At least initially.
We probably won’t see this feature on Facebook for a few months, as the company, let’s remember, has yet to start the testing phase. Still yes, Meta believes that this novelty will bring “more competition” in the app store market, a spokesperson confirmed to The Verge.