In order to comply with the European Digital Services Act, Apple has been forced to reveal the number of monthly active users for the App Store in Europe, across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS.
The company said the iOS App Store has 101 million users in Europe, whereas iPadOS has 23 million. The Mac App Store has 6 million, the tvOS App Store has 1 million, and the watchOS App Store has under 1 million. The disclosure was first spotted by iGeneration.
The company also said that Apple Books and Podcasts paid subscriptions are also being used by less than 1 million people in Europe per month. The numbers are based on an average taken over the six-month period up to January 2023.
The Digital Services Act sets out rules to be enforced against “very large online platforms,” which is defined as platforms with 45 million monthly active users or more. Apple says it views the App Store for each of its operating systems as a separate platform, so that only the iPhone iOS App Store would classify as a very large online platform.
However, Apple said that it will “align” all of its App Stores with the Digital Services Act requirements, even though it would only be legally required for the iOS App Store to be in compliance. DSA rules include protecting children from being profiled for advertising purposes, limiting the spread of misinformation, and more. Apple said that the “goals of the DSA align with Apple’s goals to protect consumers from illegal content.”
The Digital Services Act has a different focus to the Digital Markets Act, the latter of which focuses on the monopoly power of online “gatekeepers.” The Digital Markets Act will likely see Apple forced to support alternative app stores and app sideloading on the iPhone, at least for its European customers.
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