How the Open App Markets Act (S. 2710) Would Undermine App Stores

S. 2710 seeks to undo the current management structure for mobile app stores. The provisions track some of the complaints from the largest companies selling digital-only goods and services on the app stores, which have an ultimate purpose of forcing app stores to distribute their products for free. As a result, S. 2710’s centerpiece is a mandate for software platform operators to allow sideloaded software and app stores by default. In addition to the sideloading mandate, S. 2710 would also require software platforms to
provide open access to hardware and software features for app makers, equal to the platform offerings’ own access. These provisions could help some app companies obtain free distribution of their products in the short run, but that distribution service would be
mandatorily devalued and would ultimately do a lot more harm than good.

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