MacPaw is a Ukrainian developer of Mac and iOS applications.
In view of the new Digital Markets Act regulations across the European Union border, it has announced the official launch of its alternative mobile app store called Setapp. The company has been conducting closed beta testing of the app store for several months with a selected number of users. MacPaw has officially opened the gates for all users to taste Setapp Mobile in its open beta phase.
The store offers more than 50 apps for productivity, finance, video, photo, and creativity from both MacPaw and other developers. These applications include but are not limited to CleanMyPhone, ClearVPN, Riveo video editor, Awesome Habits tracker, Time Master, BusyCal, Free your music, MonAI, Elk currency converter, Ochi focus manager, Bookshelf: Reading Tracker, and AdLock.
SetApp Mobile is a marketplace, meaning if you subscribe to a $9.99/month fee, you’ll have every app. This feature requires iOS 17.4 or greater, an Apple ID, and importantly, only those with an EU member state linkage will have access to them. 
The company was one of the first to sign Apple’s controversial DMA agreement that lets developers distribute apps outside the App Store. For now, the business model and the user experience are not finally defined, which is a reason for MacPaw to launch this first version as an open beta.
“There are identifiable opportunities for improvement concerning user experience, the number of apps, and the range of categories we cover.” “We feel there is substantial demand for an alternative app store, which is why we decided to launch it and iterate our business model based on the user input,” Yaroslav Stepanenko, MacPaw marketing director, told us.
The number of applications and the users should balance each other. There is a need to balance between the number of applications available and the users; having a low quantity of apps while attracting a large number of users or vice versa is not manageable.
Stepanenko added that at any one time, the store would keep a limited number of apps so that participating developers do not experience poor discovery.
Up until now, MacPaw has provided a suite of applications designed for Mac users through multiple subscription tiers that allow users to access accompanying iOS applications for those services. This Setapp mobile marketplace marks a direct play to capture millions of iPhone users in the EU.
Our track record in distributing the apps in the desktop space is impressive.” “Now we need to take that experience and reproduce it within the iOS sector in the EU,” Stepanenko said.
The most contentious implementation of the DMA to date has been the CTF. For those whose apps are distributed through an alternative application marketplace, a charge of €0.50 on every first-year annual install will apply when their install total for that year is in excess of the threshold of 1 million installs. Apple’s terms are under review by regulators to determine its compliance with the DMA.
MacPaw has said it has not made any predictions of the liability it could fall under to pay these charges due to its tradition of distributing its own applications through different channels.
In addition to MacPaw, a few other resellers are also dipping their toes into the EU waters. In June, Aptoide-a major third-party store for Android-unveiled a store of its own for games. The game emulator Delta is one of several Patreon-backed apps available via AltStore PAL.
There could be some initial curiosity on the part of the users who will want to try out these new stores and the various offerings they represent. One of the biggest challenges these third-party app stores face is how to market themselves effectively to the different categories of users out there and ensure that these users remain long-term.
