Aptoide iOS game store launches this week; wait list of 20,000

An Aptoide iOS game store launches in Europe on Thursday, the third, uh, third-party app store to be announced after Setapp and AltStore.

All three companies are taking advantage of the changes Apple was forced to make in the EU by the Digital Markets Act, which opens up the App Store to competition for the first time …

Aptoide already has the third-largest Android app store, and will be hoping to replicate that success on the iOS platform – though it is taking a different approach. While the Aptoide Android store offers apps of all kind, the iOS store will, initially at least, be limited to games.

The company currently has a countdown timer to its launch at 10am GMT on June 6.

There’s a link to download the app, but if you try this now, you’ll be told you’re not eligible. That’s because the company says it has a wait list of 20,000 people, and will only be allowing between 500 and 1,000 people per day to install the app.

Aptoide told The Verge that it will initially launch with just seven games, but says that this will quickly rise to 30, and over 100 iOS developers have expressed interest.

One reason for that interest may be its approach to Apple’s fee structure for alternative app stores.

Notably, Aptoide is also the first third-party iOS marketplace in Europe to launch with an Apple-approved in-app purchases (IAP) solution, which it will provide to developers via an IAP software development kit.

The company is taking a new approach to offsetting Apple’s 50 euro cents Core Technology Fee (CTF) for every annual installation of the store. Instead of passing that on directly to users in the form of a subscription, the cost will be supported by a fee charged to developers for in-app purchases. “This means that IAP-driven apps will be preferred in Aptoide iOS,” says Trezentos.

Joints Setapp and AltStore

MacPaw’s Setapp Mobile launched as an invitation-only beta last month, with an initial line-up of 13 apps. That is expected to grow to 30 by the time it opens to the public later in the summer, with a further 20-ish apps likely to follow later.

AltStore began its own rollout in April, though installing it is far from easy thanks to the hoops Apple makes iPhone owners jump through in order to install third-party app stores.

Other app stores are likely to follow.

9to5Mac collage from Aptoide and Luke Chesser on Unsplash