Apple announces some concessions to ensure that its rules regarding applications distributed outside the App Store become less unpopular. The firm is therefore proposing two new conditions to exempt developers from the controversial Core Technology Fee.
It’s not every day you see this. Apple agrees to make some adjustments to its new rules regarding the App Store in Europe. Remember, to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) which fights against anti-competitive practices, the Apple firm now authorizes alternatives to the App Store.
Thus, in order not to depend exclusively on the App Store and to avoid Apple’s Commission, developers can offer their applications on another application store. Yes, but there was a significant trap: the Core Technology Fee (CTF).
Apple faces discontent
This is a new type of fee aimed at discouraging developers from going without the App Store. Thus, for each application distributed on an alternative store and exceeding one million downloads in one year, Apple intended to charge 0.50 euro cents for each first download on a device. Cumulatively, this could be very, very expensive for some developers.
Several of them expressed their anger at this measure which they considered aggressive. At the same time, the European Commission had signaled its dissatisfaction with the way in which certain giants, including Apple, had applied the DMA. After trying several times to justify itself, Apple finally agrees to put water in its wine.
Apple’s concessions
The Cupertino company has published a press release. This confirms, on the one hand, that iPads and iPadOS will experience the same changes as iPhones and iOS. On the other hand, Apple presents two new conditions under which the Core Technology Fee is not obligatory.
Developers without income
“First, no CTF is required if the developer has no income», Says the multinational. “This includes creating a free app with no monetization that is not tied to revenue of any kind (physical, digital, advertising, or otherwise). This condition aims to give students, hobbyists and other non-commercial developers the opportunity to create a popular application without having to pay the CTF“.
“Small developers”
Then, the “small developers» are also entitled to special treatment. If their overall annual turnover is less than 10 million euros, they will be exempt from the CTF for a period of three years. And to specify: “During this three-year period, if a small developer who has never exceeded 1 million annual first installs crosses the threshold for the first time, they will not pay the CTF, even if they continue to exceed 1 million first annual installations during this period“.
On the other hand, if a developer affected by the second condition sees its turnover exceed 10 million euros during this three-year period while remaining below 50 million euros, it will be subject to the CTF normally with, however , a ceiling of one million euros per year. You follow ?
The main thing to remember is that Apple agrees to relax its very unpopular rules around this controversial Core Technology Fee. It remains to be seen whether this will succeed in calming criticism from developers and possibly the European Union.
