In January, Apple Inc. announced it would soon allow iPhone users in Europe to download apps from marketplaces other than its official App Store. It was a radical shift, one the European Union forced on the company through its new Digital Markets Act (DMA), a sweeping law designed to reduce the power of large tech platforms. But as Apple laid out the specifics, some of the more obvious beneficiaries dismissed the opportunity out of hand. Tim Sweeney, chief executive officer of Epic Games Inc., called it an “anticompetitive scheme rife with new Junk Fees.” Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms Inc., said Apple’s rules were “so onerous” that he doubted anyone would seek alternative distribution models for their apps.
Zuckerberg, apparently, has never met Riley Testut and Shane Gill. The 28-year-old developers saw Apple’s policy shift as a chance to legitimize the unauthorized service they designed several years ago to let users play old-school video games on their iPhones. The pair, who run a bootstrapped startup from the Dallas apartment they share, began slogging through Apple’s approval process for third-party shops. Their experience offers a glimpse of the road ahead for other outsiders looking to take advantage of Apple’s changes.