Apple moves closer to allowing rival app stores on iPhones for EU law

Unlike on Android phones, Apple only allows iPhone users to install apps using the company's in-house platform - the App Store. This may change, however, under planned EU laws. — Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa

BRUSSELS: Since the launch of App Store in 2007, Apple's in-house platform has been the only practical way to download apps, something that officials in the European Union want to change to increase competition.

Apple, long resistant to the European Digital Markets Act (DMA) which could impact its revenue and loosen its grip on which apps can be used on iPhones, may now be softening its stance on the planned EU law.