App Store commission drops from 30% to 15%

Apple announced today that the company would lower its commission onl’App Storewithin a new program called “App Store Small Business”. Thus the Apple brand will only recover 15% commission on in-app purchases made by “small applications”, those having earned less than a million dollars over the year. This halving comes a few weeks after the developers' revolt against Apple's commission.

A case which was relaunched by Fortnite and its game publisher Epic Games which has since been banned from the App Store. It's hard not to see a small victory for the publisher, even if it is only a facade against the Cupertino company. So of course, the exceptional health and economic situation of 2020 could have led Apple to make this decision, even without the “Fortnite affair”.

“Small businesses are the backbone of our global economy and the beating heart of innovation and opportunity in communities around the world.” It is with these words that Apple executives, led by Tim Cook, decided to announce the big news. No more 30% commission for small applications, because as the big boss of Apple reminds us “the App Store has been an engine of economic growth like no other”, making it difficult to give in to the demands of Epic Games or Spotify, who want to see the percentage of this famous commission fallen for everyone.

The App Store: Apple's golden goose

Today the “services” part of Apple reportsalmost a quarter of Apple's revenue. In the last quarter, the App Store brought in $18 billion for the firm. And if this offer should allow more developers to launch a first project on the App Store, it should not significantly reduce the Apple brand's profits on its own application download platform.

This small price reduction should also serve to calm the enthusiasm of certain developers who are very unhappy with the monopoly situation that Apple has created with the App Store on its brand's products. Steve Jobs' inalienable desire to combine software and hardware in a single product, something which is still proven today with the MacBook M1, is paying the price for his success.