Following the same feature on iOS, which is now available for a few months, iPad users in the EU will have reason to be happy next week.
Starting September 16 (Monday), they will be able to use third-party app stores to download apps to their iPads. This likely means that support for third-party app stores will be built into iPadOS 18, as it will be released on Monday. Additionally, iPadOS browser apps will be able to use alternative engines other than Safari.
That was announced in May and now it’s finally about to become a reality.
This is good news, but it’s clear that Apple isn’t doing this out of kindness. This is a consequence of the EU adopting stricter regulations targeting Apple and other big players like it. Apple has effectively been forced to enact these new policies, otherwise it would never have given up its dominance over its mobile operating systems.