It was like a bang when Apple presented the “App Store Small Business Program” in mid-November: Instead of charging all developers with a flat rate of 30 percent for sales generated in the App Store, this percentage only applies to large companies : It is claimed with sales of at least one million US dollars. The first figures are now available that give a picture of how many developers will benefit from the new regulation – and there are quite a few.
Criticism from big companies
Apple’s announcement that it wants to promote smaller companies and indie developers more by making them pay only 15 percent of their sales to Cupertino came across some app providers Incomprehension. Epic said that Apple was taking this step for tactical reasons, to calm critics – and to continue the unequal treatment of developers. Spotify in turn spoke of arbitrary guidelines that disadvantage selected providers.
98 percent of developers benefit
Indeed one comes report the analysts from Appfigures come to the conclusion that only a negligibly small proportion of developers still have to pay 30 percent of their sales. Of the two million programs in the App Store, 376,000 applications are associated with (possible) chargeable transactions: Either the download of the app is chargeable or there are in-app purchases or subscriptions. These applications are attributable to a total of 124,500 developers – less than two percent of whom exceeded the million dollar mark in 2019. Conversely, 98 percent of macOS, iOS and iPadOS developers can benefit from the new program.
Play as a cash cow
Apple is likely to continue to expect high income from the App Store. On the one hand, this is due to the games, which throw many times more than apps from other categories do:
Furthermore, the loss of revenue for Cupertino is far less than one might assume: The reduced Apple Tax has only very little effect on the total revenue from this area. As long as Apple continues to occupy large companies with a share in sales of 30 percent, the income for the group remains reasonably stable: The analysts from Sensor Tower explained to the BBCthat only 4.9 percent of revenue comes from developers whose revenue is less than $ 1 million.
So Apple actually seems to have succeeded in launching a program that is associated with financial relief for the vast majority of developers: Certain companies will probably continue to rage – but they can also easily put away a 30 percent share in sales.