For some time Apple has been exposed to accusations. The group is said to be enforcing arbitrary rules and exploiting its competitors through its fixed revenue share. The company has now announced its “Small Business Program”, which is intended to defuse the accusations.
Apple abuses its power!
The new commission program will start on 01.01.2021. Until now, developers in the App Store have had to pay 30 percent commission. As a result, video streaming subscriptions became unattractive in some cases. This value will now only be applied to the “big ones”. This means that developers who have a turnover of more than one million dollars will remain at the previous commission rate. All others who are below that, on the other hand, will only pay half, i.e. 15 percent. If the value of one million is exceeded again, the previous rate applies. This only applies for one year. If the turnover is lower in the following year, the 15 percent must be paid. Previously, the lower rate only applied if the subscription had already existed for more than one year. With this, Apple wants to counter accusations of abuse of power and probably improve its position vis-à-vis the authorities.
28 million developers affected
The new “Small Business Program” will benefit a large number of developers, but the big ones like Epic Games cannot be happy about the new regulation. Others, such as Spotify and Deezer, will also fall out of the new program. At least Apple has opened the door a bit for streaming providers. According to Apple, a total of 28 million developers on the platform are affected by the new regulation. How the developer scene reacts to Apple’s innovations remains exciting, maybe the company can already calm down a few developers.
