Apple this week revised its alternative contractual terms for devs selling apps in the European Union – a revision that was immediately dismissed by critics as more “malicious compliance.”
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Essentially, Apple has allowed developers in the EU to choose whether they want to use its own In‑App Purchase system for App Store transactions or an alternative payment processor for In-App transactions. EU app developers can also choose to sell their apps through a third-party storefront.
The Alternative Terms contract covers: 1) In‑App Purchase system from the App Store; 2) alternative payment processors; and 3) linking out from apps.
The StoreKit addendum covers just linking out – it “allows the ability to link out for purchases of digital goods or services for apps distributed in the EU and includes new business terms for those transactions.” It’s not for in-app transactions.
The StoreKit contract doesn’t include the Core Technology fee – assessed for devs using the Alternative Terms contract on app installs beyond one million at €0.50 for each app installed.
But it does come with two new fees: a 5 percent “Initial Acquisition Fee” and a 10/20 percent “Store Services Fee.”
On iOS, under the Alternative Terms contract, Apple demands a 17 percent commission for apps sold in EU storefronts of the App Store, or 10 percent for App Store Small Business Program participants. Then there’s the 3 percent payment processing fee, and the Core Technology fee is applicable.
There’s also an Initial acquisition fee of 5 percent “for sales of digital goods and services, made on any platform, that occur within a 12-month period after an initial install.” And there’s a Store services fee of 10 percent “for sales of digital goods and services, made on any platform, that occur within a fixed 12-month period from the date of an install, including app updates and reinstalls.”
Under the StoreKit Contract, the Initial acquisition fee is the same – 5 percent – but the Store service fee is 20 percent. For App Store Small Business Program participants or auto-renewal subscriptions beyond one year, that drops to 7 percent.
Fee calculation is complicated enough that Apple has built a web-based calculator for the task.
In a statement provided to The Register, Spotify said, “We are currently assessing Apple’s deliberately confusing proposal. At first glance, by demanding as much as a 25 percent fee for basic communication with users, Apple once again blatantly disregards the fundamental requirements of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The European Commission has made it clear that imposing recurring fees on basic elements like pricing and linking is unacceptable. We call on the Commission to expedite its investigation, implement daily fines and enforce the DMA.”
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United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority – as part of its Mobile Browsers and Cloud Gaming Market investigation – is contemplating uncomfortable remedies [PDF] against the fruiterer.
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Among the issues that concern the CMA are: Apple’s requirement that all browsers on its mobile devices use its own WebKit rendering engine; Apple’s and Google’s dominance of browser engines; and Apple’s rules that limit in-app browsers.
Some of the options being considered include: “Requirement for Apple to grant access to alternative browser engines to iOS”; “Requirement for Apple to grant equivalent access to iOS to browsers using alternative browser engines”; and “Requirement for Apple to grant equivalent access to APIs used by WebKit and Safari to browsers using alternative browser engines.”
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Source: Apple tries again to make EU officials happy – with new fees • The Register
Robin Edgar
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