Meta wants to challenge Goole and Apple app stores now that the EU recently approved the Digital Markets Act, which is expected to come into force next spring. This new regulation will allow all platforms to distribute apps through other digital stores.
According to The Verge, Meta plans to allow people in the European Union to download apps directly through Facebook Ads. So this will mean an opportunity to compete with Google and Apple's app stores. The idea is to allow users to discover and download apps from Facebook instead of having to open the App Store on iOS. This would open up a new market for Meta.
Meta promises to host apps and give users the option to download them without intermediaries, and this - Meta claims - will achieve better conversion rates for their ads. In addition, at least for now, Meta will not charge a percentage of the revenue those apps get.
A Meta spokesperson, Tom Channick, confirmed this project in an email to The Verge: "We've always been interested in helping developers distribute their apps, and the new options would add more competition in this space. Developers deserve more ways to get their apps to the people who want them easily."
In any case, Meta was not the only company interested in taking advantage of the new situation when the EU DMA comes into force. In March, Microsoft also announced that it expects to launch its alternative app store for iOS and Android games in Europe next year.
Meanwhile, Zuckerberg assured that the metaverse remains an essential vision for Meta's future but that it will not be its main investment focus. That means it is no longer the priority.
The metaverse is an idea popularized in science fiction that refers to a digital space where people can create and explore virtual worlds with avatars. In fact, Meta changed its name in 2021 to reflect its interest in this concept but now seems to have lost some of its enthusiasm.
Meta's change comes against a backdrop of high competition in the AI field, where other companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are developing innovative and disruptive technologies. AI is one of the most important trends of the 21st century and can potentially transform many sectors and aspects of human life. That's why Meta wants to be at the forefront and not be left behind.
According to Andrew Bosworth, Meta's CTO, Zuckerberg is now obsessed with generative artificial intelligence (AI), a technology that can create new and personalized content from data. Meta is heavily invested in AI research and development and has a language model called LLaMa that is rumored to be very powerful. Apparently, Zuckerberg has attention deficits and quickly shifts interest when a shiny new toy comes along.
