Apple’s App Store Share Rate for Small Developers Will Drop to 15%

Last year, Apple was on the news page several times due to the App Store “Apple Tax” dispute. Seeing as the protests didn’t appear to be stifled, they finally made some changes. Right now, Apple has officially announced a new App Store Small Business Plan, which aims to “accelerate innovation and help small businesses and independent developers grow their businesses,” thus bringing more “landmark” applications. in the Apple ecosystem.

Specifically, this plan will reduce the App Store commission rate for small developers to 15%, and Apple’s policy for small developers is that annual revenue is less than $ 1 million. According to their agreements, the App Store Small Business program will be officially launched on January 1, 2021 and is expected to “benefit most developers who sell digital products and services in the App Store”. Full details of the plan will be announced early next month, but the basic rule is that all existing developers whose total app revenue is less than $ 1 million during the year and developers who sell products or services in the store for the first time will receive commission reductions. When plan participants’ sales revenue exceeds $ 1 million, the commission rate for the rest of the year will be calculated at the original 30%. If the income is less than 1 million in the next calendar year, the 15% percentage can be restored in the following year.

For developers with total revenue of more than $ 1 million, Apple will continue to charge a standard 30% fee. In the announcement, they did not forget to point out that they have provided “unprecedented developer tools” and that each of the 1.8 million apps in the App Store “must be approved by a trusted developer and customer Review Procedures”. Furthermore, the global reach of the App Store covers 175 regions and 1.5 billion devices, a very valuable resource for the entire ecosystem.

Indeed, with more and more developers openly opposing the “Apple tax,” Apple is also facing potential antitrust investigation risks. Now they take the initiative to give in to some developers, I think they also hope to avoid similar situations.