Apple’s App Store Small Business Program, which sees smaller developers have their App Store fees cut from 30% to 15%, will result in just a 5% revenue App Store revenue drop.
According to CNBC, both Apple and Google, who launched a similar program to support app developers earlier in the week, won’t be adversely affected by the changes.
On both Apple and Google’s new programs, developers must have earned $1 million or less in revenue in the previous year, though the biggest app developers won’t benefit and will pay 30% fees.
Sensor Tower suggests that both firms introduced the program to improve optics and because they know it won’t have a significant impact on the profitability of their app stores.
Last year, Apple generated $54.76 billion in services revenue. That’s around 20% of its overall sales. Earnings from the App Store, however, only form part of the company’s services arm, as subscriptions and other products are also included. If Apple had rolled out the program earlier in 2020, it would have cost the firm around $595 million.
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