Apple announced on Wednesday that it has opened iPhones to other app stores in Japan in response to the new laws that are intended to trigger competition in the smartphone market in Japan.
With the new regulations at Apple, Japanese developers will be able to build their own app markets on iPhones and remit as little as 5 percent of sales made on those marketplaces and applications to Apple.
The developers will also have the opportunity to provide their own in-app payments distributed through Apple’s App Store, but Apple stated that the opportunity will be presented in addition to its in-app payment system and that developers will continue paying commissions to it.
Japan is the most recent jurisdiction to separate the Apple App Store business model, in which developers have long paid commissions of up to 30 percent on in-app purchases of digital goods and services.
Whereas Apple continues to be in a legal tussle regarding the charge it can place upon developers in the United States, in Europe, the American technology firm has been compelled to open the iPhone to alternative marketplaces.
Therefore, the framework of Japan is fundamentally different from that of Europe. Apple can also grant permission to substitute app markets under it. It similarly mandates age ratings as it does in its own App Store for apps sold on other marketplaces.
Apple also indicated that it will perform a form of basic security test known as a notarization on all apps sold by other marketplaces.
Japanese developers who use the Apple App Store can offer links to make payment outside their application; the commission made by Apple is 15 percent. Standard App Store purchases will be charged a 26 percent fee.
The law of Japan also obliges Apple to do the same by opening up its iPhone hardware to third-party device manufacturers, although in a different manner compared to European law.
Apple installed a system in Japan to receive interoperability requests, but reported that it can decline them when such would reveal sensitive user information.
In a blog, Apple reported that “Across these changes, Apple has worked to reduce new privacy and security risks the law creates to provide users in Japan the best and safest experience possible.”
