Apple’s changes to its App Store rules and fees will likely secure the green light from European Union (EU) antitrust regulators, reports Reuters.
Quoting unnamed “people with direct knowledge of the matter said,” this move will potentially hefty daily fines for the tech giant. Last month Apple said developers will pay a 20% processing fee for purchases made via the App Store, though the fees could go as low as 13% for Apple’s small-business program.
Developers who send customers outside the App Store for payment will pay a fee between 5% and 15%. They will also be able to use as many links as they wish to send users to outside forms of payment.
Apple made the changes after being fined 500 million euro (about $570 million) for allegedly violating the Digital Markets Act. On April 23, the European Commission fined Apple and Meta with €500 million and €200 million (about $230 million) respectively (about US$570 million) for violating the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
When it comes to Apple, the EC — the executive arm of the European Union — claims that, under the DMA, app developers distributing their apps via Apple’s App Store should be able to inform customers, free of charge, of alternative offers outside the App Store, steer them to those offers and allow them to make purchases. The EC has argued that Apple failed to comply with this obligation.
