It has been revealed that some app developers have been moving to demand a cut in app store fees, and it has been revealed that Apple has warned investors that these actions will have a major impact on financial conditions and performance.
Since Apple introduced the App Store in 2008, it has basically charged a 30% fee to developers whenever they sell paid apps or in-app purchases. It was cut to 15% two years after the start of subscription app billing in 2016, but the so-called Apple tax of 30% in most of the app stores remains the same.
Reportedly, Apple mentioned the app store fee cut in a document filed with the SEC. If the company’s fee ratio is lowered or other cases are narrowed and excluded, it could have a significant negative impact on the company’s financial position and business performance.
Apple announced its fourth quarter 2020 results on October 29 (local time). Its sales are $64.7 billion and its profits are $1.67 billion. Among them, the service sector recorded a profit of $12.5 billion and a profit of $14.5 billion, a whopping 22.5% in the same period of the previous year. We didn’t disclose the details, but of course, this includes app store revenue.
Apple deleted Epic Games’ Fortnite in August, and in subsequent lawsuits, Epic implemented a direct payment method in the app that bypasses the App Store in order to avoid 30% commission.
The U.S. District Court dismissed Epic’s request for a temporary injunction to cancel Fortnite from the App Store, indicating that Apple did not support suspending the Unreal Engine development account, and the court dispute began to resume in 2021.
Meanwhile, Epic has formed an alliance with several companies such as Spotify and Tile to demand improvement of the rules of the App Store, and Microsoft is poised to join this. Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives Judicial Subcommittee is also investigating that the App Store practices are suspected of violating the antitrust law. Related information can be found here .
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