Apple charges a 30% cut from all the apps that are present in the app stores. Because of this commission that it takes from all the paid apps and the in-app purchases, the company has faced a lot of criticism and backlash. However, Apple never backed off from its policy and stance, but recently, the company announced a new developer program by the name of the App Store Small Business Program. It is meant for small businesses, new app developers, and for those businesses that make up to $1 million per year revenue through all their apps. All such app developers if get enrolled in the App Store Small Business Program will be paying 15% of the commission instead of the regular 30%.
This program will go live from 1st January 2021, and it is not known exactly how many apps a part of this program will be. All the businesses and apps that earned less than or up to $1million in the year 2020 will be eligible for this program automatically. However, if any business is found to have earned more than $1 million in the annual sales through all their apps, Apple will deduct the regular 30% commission from them. If some business is qualified to be in the normal list of businesses and apps but its revenue falls and it earns less than $1 million by the end of 2021, they will get a chance to reapply to enroll in the App Store Small Business Program to again avail the discounted commission rates.
More detail about this program will be provided in December. According to Apple, this step of theirs will benefit a lot of small businesses as they will still get the platform of Apple’s App Store and all the benefits and security features that come along with it at a very economical rate.
Apple’s 30% cut policy is a thorn in the backside for many companies and developers as they think it is unfair of Apple to charge this fee from all their in-app purchases. Apple has an unclear discounted rate for Amazon and Facebook, and this fact also raises a lot of questions and arguments from the developer community and big companies like Spotify and Basecamp. A while ago, Apple faced a tussle with Epic Games also over this similar issue when they introduced a direct in-game payment method for Fortnite and Apple removed it from its App Store.
So, all these issues are not new, but the surprise came in the form of Apple’s new program’s announcement for the benefit of small businesses and app developers.
This program will go live from 1st January 2021, and it is not known exactly how many apps a part of this program will be. All the businesses and apps that earned less than or up to $1million in the year 2020 will be eligible for this program automatically. However, if any business is found to have earned more than $1 million in the annual sales through all their apps, Apple will deduct the regular 30% commission from them. If some business is qualified to be in the normal list of businesses and apps but its revenue falls and it earns less than $1 million by the end of 2021, they will get a chance to reapply to enroll in the App Store Small Business Program to again avail the discounted commission rates.
More detail about this program will be provided in December. According to Apple, this step of theirs will benefit a lot of small businesses as they will still get the platform of Apple’s App Store and all the benefits and security features that come along with it at a very economical rate.
Apple’s 30% cut policy is a thorn in the backside for many companies and developers as they think it is unfair of Apple to charge this fee from all their in-app purchases. Apple has an unclear discounted rate for Amazon and Facebook, and this fact also raises a lot of questions and arguments from the developer community and big companies like Spotify and Basecamp. A while ago, Apple faced a tussle with Epic Games also over this similar issue when they introduced a direct in-game payment method for Fortnite and Apple removed it from its App Store.
So, all these issues are not new, but the surprise came in the form of Apple’s new program’s announcement for the benefit of small businesses and app developers.
