Depending on how well your App Store apps are doing, you’re going to love this or hate this.
Apple announced a new App Store Small Business programon Wednesday. The program, which will launch on January 1, 2021, will cut App Store fees from 30 percent to 15 percent for many developers, with firms that earned $1 million or less in 2020 qualifying for the program.
Apple CEO Tim Cook offered the following comments:
Small businesses are the backbone of our global economy and the beating heart of innovation and opportunity in communities around the world. We’re launching this program to help small business owners write the next chapter of creativity and prosperity on the App Store, and to build the kind of quality apps our customers love. The App Store has been an engine of economic growth like none other, creating millions of new jobs and a pathway to entrepreneurship accessible to anyone with a great idea. Our new program carries that progress forward — helping developers fund their small businesses, take risks on new ideas, expand their teams, and continue to make apps that enrich people’s lives.
As such, developers who surpass the $1 million threshold will be subject to the standard 30 percent commission rate for the rest of the year. If a firm’s income from the App Store was above $1 million and then falls below it, they can re-qualify for the 15 percent commission for the rest of the year. Since the launch of the App Store in 2007, Apple has taken a 30 percent cut from both App Store sales and in-app purchases. Apple has also set up favorable commission rates with some firms, most notably Amazon.
The so-called ‘Apple Tax’ has been a big point of conflict with various developers of all sizes, most notably, Epic Games, with whom Apple has been involved in litigation with regarding its App Store platform for some time now.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via The Mac Observer