Microsoft today announced that it is opening the Microsoft Store for Windows to third-party storefront apps, including the Epic Games Store and Amazon Appstore. The Epic and Amazon stores will be discoverable on the Microsoft Store for Windows and can be downloaded like any other app.
To justify this change, Microsoft said it wanted to ensure that its “trading conditions are fair” and also “help promote innovation.”
Our commitment to being an “Open Store for an Open Platform†is not just about the various technical foundations of app building. It is also about ensuring that our trading conditions are fair and help promote innovation. For example, the Microsoft Store on Windows no longer requires app developers to share their revenue with Microsoft, when apps run their own integrated payment systems.
With that in mind, today we’re announcing another important update to our Microsoft Store policies on Windows, which will allow third-party storefront apps to be discovered in the Microsoft Store on Windows.
Support for third-party app store options is what ‌Epic Games‌ has requested in its ongoing legal battle with Apple, but Apple has no plans to implement support for such a feature. . Apple has argued that third-party app stores or sideloading apps will compromise the privacy and security of iOS devices.
Two of Apple’s main competitors, Google and Microsoft, now support other options for installing apps on their platforms, which could potentially influence regulators working on antitrust law in the United States and elsewhere. ‘other countries.
‌Epic Games‌ failed to convince the court that Apple should be forced to license other app stores, and ‌Epic Games‌ is now appealing the ruling in the Epic lawsuit against Apple. There was a victory at the end of the dispute, however, with the judge ruling that Apple must allow developers to offer a button or link to their websites where non-integrated purchase payment options are available.
Microsoft has been involved in the ongoing antitrust investigations that Apple and Google are facing in the United States, but not on the side of the tech companies. Microsoft President Brad Smith said in June it was time for regulators to investigate App Stores.
In 1999, Microsoft lost an antitrust case and was accused of maintaining a monopoly in the PC market. Microsoft was forced to submit to surveillance and was forced to share its APIs with third-party companies.
