Apple wants you to know the App Store is doing good
With US$1.3 trillion in billing and sales, Apple needed some good news after losing appeal bid against an injunction to force it to open up its App Stores to competition.
For a very long time, Apple guarded the keys to its App Store kingdom very closely. Despite criticism of its walled garden ecosystem, Apple has held steadfast in its policies, which have allowed the business to charge a 30% commission fee (aka the Apple Tax) on purchases made through the App Store.
While Apple won the lawsuit against Epic Games, Apple got an injunction that meant it had to allow developers to offer alternate payment options. But it got around this by requiring them to do a 27% revenue share back to Apple. Epic filed complaints against this, and a recent ruling found that Apple had violated that, and got further restrictions, which included collecting revenue shares. Apple appealed, but this has been denied.
So, now that you’re all caught up, this brings us back why you’re suddenly hearing about how good the App Store is, and why you’ll probably hear a lot more this week at WWDC 2025. For one, Apple is touting how its App Store is a great thing, with over US$1.3 trillion in billings and sales in 2024.
And interestingly, right on the first paragraph, Apple states 90% of developers “did not pay any commission” to them. Which is great news if you’re a developer, but you’re probably asking, doesn’t this contradict the whole point of the injunction, and didn’t Apple make US$91.3 billion in 2024 from the App Store, and about US$27.3 billion in commissions?
Well, both things can be true.
If you look at carefully at the wording, the US$1.3 trillion figure is about billings and sales, while commissions come from subscriptions and in app purchases (IAP). The Epic Games lawsuit is all about the IAP that it sells, such as Battle Passes and cosmetic items. Depending on your app, you may or may not have to pay commission. It’s kinda complicated. But if you’re Epic Games and have a ton of IAPs for in-game items, then yeah, you do have to pay Apple its share.
Now, the question is, is it a fair share? Is 30% a big amount? Well, let’s put it this way, if you want access to Apple’s huge app market and hardware that it built up, then yeah, you do. You also get access to all of its tools that let you do make the app, and again, you get global access. Could it be cheaper? Well, Apple only takes 15% cut if your business only made up to US$1 million a year.
And to be clear, Google also takes a 30% cut, and also has to allow alternative billing due to another Epic Games lawsuit. And it’s also facing lawsuits in the US and fines in Indonesia for its payment systems.
At the end of the day, there’s no denying that app stores make a lot of money, for both developers and the owners of the app stores. And if Epic Games doesn’t want to pay, it can always start its own app store (which it did). It just boils down to how much money goes to whom, and whether its fair to pay. And we’ll have to wait until this whole process gets played out fully in the legal system, something that will likely take time.
For now, let’s just look foward to the upcoming WWDC 2025 and all the rebranding that’s coming up for Apple’s operating systems. Oh, and whether Siri will finally get upgrades to finally catch up to the competition.