Apple has made some big changes recently. One of these important changes is that users will be able to download apps from outside the App Store. However, Apple’s pricing plan for developers has drawn a lot of reaction.
Apple’s fee per download plan for popular apps!
There has been tension between Apple and the European Union for a long time. The tech giant switched to the USB-C port slot with the iPhone 15 series at the request of the EU. Subsequently, the company was said to have taken anti-competitive steps for the App Store. As a result, the way was paved for users in Europe to use other app stores.
Users living in the European Union will be able to use the App Store and third-party app stores. Developers, however, are unlikely to favor other app stores.
According to reports, Apple is working on a pricing structure for apps in third-party app stores. Accordingly, developers who want to publish apps in these stores will have to pay 0.50 euro for each new download for apps that receive more than 1 million installs each year.
The most crucial point here is that this payment will be made every year. Moreover, the user’s download of an update will also count as an installation. If developers want to publish an app on the App Store instead of a third-party app store, they will be subject to a 17 percent cut in each in-app sale.
Apple’s pricing structure for developers to publish apps on third-party app stores has sparked a major controversy. In particular, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek posted a reaction on social media. Many users described this new pricing structure as absurd. But is it really?
Let’s explain Apple’s new pricing structure with an example. Facebook, the social media platform owned by Meta, has 408 million monthly users in Europe. iPhones account for a third of the European smartphone market. If all of these one-third have the Facebook app installed, this means that Meta will pay Apple $67.5 million every year. And that’s not taking into account that each update counts as a download.
In addition, Meta will have to pay not only for Facebook, but also for WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. This brings a serious cost. Another issue that bothers big companies is that they have to pay for users who downloaded these apps years ago but never logged in.
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