Apple has tweaked its developer policies – small developers that made less than $1 million in 2019 will have to pay only 15% of the money they make. According to AppFigures, an analytics and App Store optimization company, more than 98% of the developers (with paid apps) on the App Store will benefit from the reduction of commission.
The data provided by AppFigures throws light on the fact that nearly only 2% of the developers make more than $1 million through Apple’s App Store in a year (2019 in this scenario). The change in the commission rate will reportedly apply to a huge number of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS app developers.
AppFigures goes into detail to add that there are currently two million apps on the App Store and out of that only 376,000 are paid apps. “Paid” refers to apps which require an upfront payment, monthly or yearly (daily or weekly in some cases) subscription, or in-app purchases.
A developer friendly move
To add to that, the 376,000 paid apps belong to 124,500 developers and out of that only 2% of the developers made more than $1 million in 2019. So this change in the commission rate will make a lot of developers happy – something which does not happen very often. It’s a positive change, and it could encourage developers to make more apps and even create enthusiasm in people who have ideas but were unable to figure out a business strategy.
“That means that roughly 98% of all developers that can make money in the App Store as of right now will qualify for the program, which opens in 2021 and keep more revenue in their pocket instantly,” said Ariel Michaeli, AppFigures Founder & CEO.
“This move is truly a win-win for Apple. In a single swing, Apple managed to make almost every developer in the ecosystem happy, potentially fend off a set of anti-trust lawsuits, and give developers more incentive to stay with Apple,” added Michaeli.
