This morning Apple dropped App Store commissions from 30% to 15%, meaning app developers pay less to Apple for hosting their apps and managing payments. The catch: developers have to be earning less than $1 million for all of their apps.
But the move might be more PR than substance.
Because it will only cost them about 2% of their App Store revenue. At least, according to one mobile marketer’s estimate.
“By halving the AppStore fee for developers making under $1 million, Apple makes a master PR move,” says Thomas Petit, a Europe-based mobile growth consultant for dozens of mobile companies. “The extreme power law of app’s unit economics means it won’t cost them much — around 2% of the AppStore revenues per my estimates — and it will fend off regulators at a time the App Store is under scrutiny.”