Apple to Let Developers Distribute Apps Directly from Their Sites 

A man poses with an Apple iPhone 12 in a mobile phone store in Nantes, France, September 13, 2023. (Reuters)
A man poses with an Apple iPhone 12 in a mobile phone store in Nantes, France, September 13, 2023. (Reuters)
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Apple to Let Developers Distribute Apps Directly from Their Sites 

A man poses with an Apple iPhone 12 in a mobile phone store in Nantes, France, September 13, 2023. (Reuters)
A man poses with an Apple iPhone 12 in a mobile phone store in Nantes, France, September 13, 2023. (Reuters)

Software developers who use Apple's App Store will be able to distribute apps to EU users directly from their websites this spring, the company said on Tuesday, as part of changes required by new EU rules forcing Apple to open up its closed eco-system.

The European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which kicked in last week, requires Apple to offer alternative app stores on iPhones and to allow developers to opt out of using its in-app payment system, which charges fees of up to 30%.

"We're providing more flexibility for developers who distribute apps in the European Union, including introducing a new way to distribute apps directly from a developer's website," Apple said in a blogpost.

"Apple will provide authorized developers access to APIs (application programming interfaces) that facilitate the distribution of their apps from the web, integrate with system functionality, back up and restore users' apps, and more," the company said.

Other changes include allowing developers who set up alternative app marketplaces to offer a catalogue solely made up of the marketplace developer's own apps with immediate effect.

Developers can choose how to design in-app promotions, discounts and other deals when directing users to complete a transaction on their website instead of using Apple's template.

Apple's changes come amid continuing criticism from rivals that its compliance efforts are falling short. DMA violations can cost companies fines as much as 10% of their global turnover.



Microsoft Looks to Boost AI Performance in European Languages

FILE PHOTO: Microsoft signage is seen at the company's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, US, January 18, 2023. REUTERS/Matt Mills McKnight/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Microsoft signage is seen at the company's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, US, January 18, 2023. REUTERS/Matt Mills McKnight/File Photo
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Microsoft Looks to Boost AI Performance in European Languages

FILE PHOTO: Microsoft signage is seen at the company's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, US, January 18, 2023. REUTERS/Matt Mills McKnight/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Microsoft signage is seen at the company's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, US, January 18, 2023. REUTERS/Matt Mills McKnight/File Photo

US tech behemoth Microsoft is investing millions of dollars to funnel more European-language data into AI development, company president Brad Smith told AFP Monday.

With today's leading AI models mostly trained on material in English, "the survival of these languages and the health of these cultures is quite literally at stake" without a course correction, Smith said in an interview.

AI models are "less capable when it is in a language that has insufficient data," he added -- which could push more users to switch to English even when it is not their native language.

Microsoft will from September set up research units in the eastern French city Strasbourg to "help expand the availability of multilingual data for AI development" in at least 10 of the European Union's 24 languages, including Estonian and Greek.

The work will include digitizing books and recording hundreds of hours of audio.

"This isn't about creating data for Microsoft to own. It is about creating data for the public to be able to use," Smith said, adding that the information would be shared on an open-source basis.

The US-based company has in recent months striven to position itself as especially compatible with a gathering political push for European technological sovereignty.

Leaders in the bloc have grown increasingly nervous at their dependency on US tech firms and infrastructure since Donald Trump's reelection to the White House.

In June, Microsoft said it was stepping up cooperation with European governments on cybersecurity and announced new "data sovereignty" measures for its data centers on the continent.

Smith said that Monday's announcement was just the latest evidence of the company's commitment to Europe.

Most leading AI firms are American or Chinese, although Europe has some standouts like France's Mistral or Franco-American platform Hugging Face.

Away from Microsoft, some European initiatives such as TildeLM are pushing to develop local-language AI models.

The Windows and Office developer also said Monday that it was working on a digital recreation of Paris' Notre-Dame cathedral that it plans to gift to the French state, as well as digitizing items from the country's BNF national library and Decorative Arts Museum.