Apple updates app store developer policies following EU investigation

The tech giant is subject to an EU probe about its compliance plan with the Digital Markets Act.

Apple announced an update to its App Store terms in the EU on Thursday (8 August) to allow developers to provide information and promote offers at external app marketplaces or websites to comply with the bloc’s new competition rules.
App developers can promote these alternative offers within their applications, including subscription prices available both in their apps and outside of them, Apple said in an update.
They can also provide links that can be “tapped, clicked, or scanned,” to take customers to the other offers.
The changes, which are set to apply in the autumn, come after the European Commission said in June that Apple was in breach of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Under the EU’s digital competition rules, iOS developers should be able to provide information to customers about cheaper offers and direct them to those options.
The EU executive, however, found that none of Apple’s business terms allowed “developers to freely steer their customers,” by providing pricing information about offers available outside the App Store.
“Steering is key to ensure that app developers are less dependent on gatekeepers’ app stores and for consumers to be aware of better offers,” Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s executive vice president in charge of competition, said in a statement in June.
The Commission also launched a non-compliance investigation into Apple’s contractual terms for app developers including its fees, the process of installing alternative app stores on iPhones, and the eligibility requirements for developers to offer alternative stores or distribute apps from the web.
The most recent changes include a new fee structure. There is now an initial acquisition fee of 5% and a store services fee of 10% that apply to digital goods sold within 12 months of installation.
Apple said the fees reflect the “value the App Store provides when connecting developers with customers in the EU” and its “ongoing services and capabilities”.
Apple is designated as a gatekeeper under the DMA, meaning the company provides core platform services and has to fully comply with the new competition rules from March 2024.
The act aims to prevent these companies from imposing unfair conditions on businesses.
If the “gatekeepers” are found to infringe the new act, the Commission can impose fines of up to 10 per cent of the company’s global turnover. This goes up to 20 per cent for repeated infringements.
In response to Apple’s latest developer changes, a spokesperson for Spotify said the music streaming company was “currently assessing Apple’s deliberately confusing proposal,” adding that app store fees disregard the DMA requirements.
“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,” a statement from Spotify said.