According to punishment: EU Commission allegedly nods Apple’s app fee model

The Core Technology Fee is dead, long live the Core Technology Commission: Apple is expected to receive the green light for its new fee model for app providers in the EU from the EU Commission. The reports the Reuters news agency Referring to initiated. This would avoid other compulsory payments that can amount to up to $ 50 million a day.

Due to violations of the Digital Market’s Digital Market, the competitive keepers imposed 500 million euros on Apple in April. The reason was that the group did not allow app providers to link freely to their own offers. Apple then adapted its fee model and the link restrictions in the EU-this is currently being examined by the Commission.

Multi-stage fee model for app providers

The controversial “Core Technology Fee”, which billed according to app installations, will give way to a “Core Technology Commission” of 5 percent of sales with the sale of digital content. From the beginning of 2026, this generally applies to the distribution of apps in the EU, Apple has previously announced. The group wants to give more details.

When linking to your own purchase offers outside the app, there are further fees for software distributed in the App Store in the form of an “Initial Acquisition Fee” (up to 2 percent) and a “Store Services Fee” for sales with digital content. The amount of the Store Services Fee, which ranges from 5 to 13 percent, depends on the extent to which an app uses functions of the app store. At the lower level (5 percent fee), important elements such as the automatic installation of app updates on the devices of customers are missing.

iOS and iPados apps, which Apple use for a long time, use in-app purchase interface for a long time, have to pay 20 percent commission to Apple. For the first time, external payment service providers can also be used in the EU for in-app purchases, then Apple reduces its commission by 3 percentage points to 17 percent.

Apple’s app store commission actually seems to decrease from 30 to 20 percent so far and for smaller developers from 15 to 13 percent. This applies at least to sales within the European Union that are made in iOS and iPados apps.

The group thus allows app providers to link to their own purchase options on a website or to integrate their own payment options into apps, but unchanged a commission for the sales made with the sale of digital content.

Digital Markets Act sets rules for gatekeepers

The Digital Markets Act stipulates that providers on the platforms of a gatekeeper – in this case Apple’s iOS, iPados and App Store – can “point out their customers” free of charge “. How Apple’s fee model can be reconciled with this requirement remains unclear. In May it was said from Brussels that Apple could estimate a remuneration for the “first acquisition”, but only at an appropriate amount. Apple’s latest suggestions are still being examined, the Commission now emphasizes in a statement to Reuters – “All options are on the table”.