Tesla CEO Elon Musk has protested the commissions Apple applies to sales through the App Store. A protest that comes at a time when some claim discredit a business model that is almost a standard in industry.
Recovery of investments in development, APIs, services, operating systems, etc.
The new owner of Twitter, precisely, tweeted that he thinks commissions are “literally 10 times higher than they should be”. A finding that deserves some clarification, starting with the fact that a large number of App Store applications (those that charge less than a million dollars a year) have seen commissions reduced to 15% through the small business development program.
It should also not be forgotten that there are other ways to monetize applications that do not earn any commission, nor forget that this is the business model also found in Google Play Store or app/game stores like that of the same Epic Games, Microsoft or others. Let us remember the thunderous silence of Epic Games in the face of the iron control of video game consoles in their crusade against the App Store.
That said, it seems Apple’s model is clear. As shown by the reduced 27% commission that Apple will charge dating apps in the Netherlands, the iAP payment processing is calculated as 3%, which also offers customer support, refunds, and other procedures. The rest, i.e. up to 30% or 15%, is considered as the monetization of the resources invested in R&D for the various operating systems, APIs, services, development environments, etc.
Regardless of how you look at the commissions Apple takes from sales in its App Store, the truth is that every company has a right, and a duty to its investors, to monetize their investments. For now, we can only wait for antitrust investigations to reach their own conclusions, given what was seen in the judgment of Apple’s lawsuit against Epic Games.we can take some surprises.
