In response to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple introduced those new, lower-commission terms in March 2024. A core argument from many developers was that if App Store commissions were reduced, those savings would be passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices.
A new study conducted by Dr. Jane Choi of Analysis Group and supported by Apple has examined the real-world impact of these new terms. The findings indicate that, despite significant commission reductions for developers, consumer prices for apps and in-app purchases have largely remained unchanged.
Developers who enrolled in the new alternative business terms saw their commission rates fall significantly, typically by 10 percentage points. In the three months after adopting these terms, this group of developers saved an estimated €20.1 million in commissions. Despite these substantial savings, the study—which analyzed over 41 million transactions—found that developers kept prices the same, or increased them, on 91% of their products.
For the small 9% fraction of products that did see a price decrease, the study suggests this was not a direct consequence of the commission reductions. The report notes that these minor decreases are “consistent with usual patterns in price changes”. Data from before the DMA changes revealed that developers typically reduced the price of 4% to 8% of products in any given month due to normal business factors.
In addition to developers retaining the savings rather than passing them to consumers, the study also analyzed who benefited from the €20.1 million reduction. The findings show that the “overwhelming majority” of these savings—over 86%—flowed to developers who are based outside of the European Union.
This new data mirrors Apple’s past experiences. When the App Store Small Business Program was introduced, which cut commissions for tens of thousands of smaller developers, a similar pattern emerged: only a “small minority” of prices were decreased.
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