Apple has rewritten its App Store fee structure for the European Union, and this time regulators seem to like what they see. The European Commission has given a positive early assessment of the changes, which are designed to bring Apple’s rules in line with the bloc’s Digital Markets Act. The new terms take effect on October 1.
Under the revamped system, Apple is lowering the fees it charges for what it calls “core technology,” and it’s simplified the math developers have to do when they distribute apps through alternative channels rather than the App Store itself. The changes come after months of back-and-forth between Apple and Brussels over how much control the company can keep over payments and app distribution within its ecosystem.
At the heart of the dispute were Apple’s old rules around steering — the practice of letting users click through to outside payment options — and the hurdles it placed in front of developers who wanted to distribute their apps outside the official App Store. The Commission has made clear it isn’t done watching this space. Officials say they’ll be tracking how the new rules actually play out in practice, and they’ve reiterated that EU users need a genuine choice in how they install apps on their devices.
Not everyone is celebrating. Epic Games, which has been locked in a bitter fight with Apple for years over app store policy, dismissed the new fee structure as “outrageous fees.” The gaming company argues Apple still hasn’t opened up its platform to real competition and continues to collect a cut even when users are redirected from an app to make a purchase elsewhere.
The numbers illustrate why Epic is unhappy. Under the new terms, digital purchases made through the Epic Games Store on iPhone and iPad in the EU will carry a 5% core technology fee. But if a developer distributes an app through the App Store itself and includes a link to an external purchase, the rate jumps to 15%. Apple has also built in some breaks for developers enrolled in certain partner programs, and smaller alternative app stores may be able to skip the core technology fee altogether.
So while Apple has clearly given ground, the fight with at least some developers is far from settled. The European Commission says it will keep examining whether the new rules truly meet the DMA’s requirements, rather than simply taking Apple’s word for it. Epic Games, for its part, isn’t backing down either — the company maintains that developers should be able to point users toward their own websites for purchases without paying Apple anything at all.
