Manzana has just updated its rules for app distribution in the European Union, both from the App Store and through third-party stores. Having received a lot of criticism for the introduction Core technology fee (CTF), a fee of €0.50 per download after exceeding 1 million first annual installs in Europe, the Cupertino developers have introduced a change that exempts some developers from paying.
Specifically, Free apps without monetization will not pay a fee for the underlying technology.. That is, those that do not have advertising, microtransactions, sales of physical or digital goods, or any other type of income. “This provision is intended to give students, hobbyists and other non-profit developers the opportunity to create a popular application without paying a CTF,” Apple says.
Likewise, Apple has made a change that will initially exempt small developers with global revenues of less than €10 million per year from paying the Core Technology Fee. Those who meet this requirement and have chosen the new conditions for distributing the application in Europe, They will not pay CTF for 3 years..
In the latter case, app creators will not have to pay a fee for the underlying technology, even if they exceed the first one million annual installs in Europe during the grace period. Yes, indeed, as long as they have not previously exceeded this barrier.
If during these three years they increase their annual income to between 10 and 50 million euros, they will start paying CTF. But this will be after exceeding the first million annual installations and with a limit of 1 million euros per year.
Apple updates terms of controversial core technology fee
The inclusion of the Core Technology Fee in changes made to the Digital Markets Act has drawn strong criticism. But not only from large corporations, but also from developers of free or distributed applications. freemium.
With the new tax, many app creators with little or no income would have to pay thousands of euros under certain circumstances. For example, an app without selling digital goods or services that reaches 1.5 million first installs in a year would have to pay almost €21,000 per month in CTF. Even if it were available only in the official App Store, but under new distribution conditions.
Now that the changes have been announced, this won’t happen again. In fact, Apple has updated its online calculator to reflect this problem. It remains to be seen whether the measure will be enough to calm the spirits of developers who have threatened to no longer launch apps for Apple devices in the European Union. Although the voices of opponents were not long in coming.
Tim Sweeneyleader of Epic Games, rebooted against the people of Cupertino for this new modification. The businessman called the fee for basic technology a “junk fee.” In addition, he said that the latest update to the terms and conditions is “another rotten and unconscionable move.”
It’s worth noting that Apple also announced that iPadOS will get the same app distribution changes as iOS. This means that paying for the Core Technology Fee will also affect iPad app downloads. Let’s remember that Apple has 6 months to introduce its tablet in Europe, the same as the iPhone.
Source: Hiper Textual
I’m Ben Stock, a highly experienced and passionate journalist with a career in the news industry spanning more than 10 years. I specialize in writing content for websites, including researching and interviewing sources to produce engaging articles. My current role is as an author at Gadget Onus, where I mainly cover the mobile section.
