Apple gives Small Businesses a Boost by Lowering App Store Commission to 15% from January 2021

In one of a number of recent concessions to developers, Apple has decided to lower its Commission fees from 30% to 15% - for those apps which make less than $1m from the Apple App store annually - which covers most development outfits, with Apple estimating 98% of app developers benefitting. This is possibly short-term stimulus during the pandemic and may be reviewed and adjusted back at some stage next year.

It does though give hard-pressed developers and publishers running those apps - a little extra in their pocket in the interim. Others are likely to follow Apple’s lead, all eyes on Google - which means that now is a particularly good time for making the most of mobile and tablet apps in particular.

Affino is getting more and more calls from clients to help in the development of specific mobile apps - and it’s an area we’re likely to get increasingly involved in. In any case - if you were considering rolling out a mobile app of any description - now is a good time to be exploring it.

Mobile Apps and interfaces in general are a rather mixed bag - and need to be well thought through, with a budget and roadmap in place for continuous improvement. There is for sure loads of room to explore apps - and plenty of opportunity still to be had, but they do remain something of a lottery.

If you want to explore extending your site into progressive web apps, or indeed full App Store apps on the Apple and Android platforms then do get in touch. Apple’s commission change means you retain 85% of the revenues and certainly opens up new possibilities for exploration.