Apple cuts EU alternative app store fees to 5%

• App Store apps using alternative payment processing will face a 20% commission, or 10% under Apple’s small business programme.
• The new terms remove Apple’s previous initial acquisition and store services fees.
• The changes take effect on October 1st and are intended to resolve Apple’s disagreements with the European Commission.

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Apple has revealed that it will charge a 5% core technology commission on digital transactions for apps distributed through alternative app marketplaces or the web in the EU from October 1st. 

The move by the iPhone maker replaces its more complex fee structure as it seeks to comply with the bloc’s Digital Markets Act.

The company also said apps distributed through the App Store that use alternative payment processing will face a 20% commission, which can fall to 10% under its small business programme.

The changes follow EU antitrust regulators’ criticism of Apple’s previous rules, including its Core Technology Fee, which they said created barriers for developers seeking to direct users outside the App Store.

New fee structure

Under the revised terms, Apple will introduce a single set of EU developer terms similar to the commission-based model it uses in markets including Japan and Brazil. 

The new structure removes the initial acquisition fee and store services fee previously charged to developers. The European Commission said it welcomed the changes and would monitor their implementation.

However, Epic Games criticised the new structure, calling the 5% commission and other charges “junk fees”. The Fortnite maker argued that the changes do not open the mobile app ecosystem to competition as required by the DMA.

“The law makes it clear that Apple must allow developers to offer link-outs to the web for purchases “free of charge” and has to allow “effective use” of competing stores,” Epic wrote in a post. “Apple’s terms deliberately violate the Digital Markets Act.

“If the Commission accepts the terms and drops their ongoing enforcement actions, the law will become meaningless and consumers and developers will not experience the benefits it was designed to provide.”