Did Apple Really Win?

On Monday, in Epic Games' appeal, the California-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals mostly sided with Apple in its App Store rules. This means that Apple's control over the App Store and the fees it charges may not change significantly.

The Epic case has not yet had a clear impact on AppStore commission income. The lawsuit between Apple and Epic began in August 2020 and has been entangled ever since. Judging from the results, the court found that Apple did not violate antitrust laws, and Apple won nine of the ten charges. Apple lost only one claim, and the court still supports Apple's setting up of external payments for application developers in the AppStore. But the specifics need further scrutiny.

In response to supervision, Apple further opened up the AppStore, but it did not harm fundamental interests. At present, global anti-monopoly and anti-competition regulations are intensifying. In response to regulation, the app stores of large technology companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Apple have begun to reduce commission rates and try to open external payments. But I don't think Apple will touch its own fundamental interests.

a. Appstore usually relaxes the commission rate in a targeted manner, but it does not hurt the fundamental interests. For example, Apple lowered the commission rate to 15% for 98% of developers whose revenue is less than US$1 million, but according to statista data, these developers only contribute 5% of Appstore revenue. Similarly, AppStore’s main source of revenue is game apps, allowing global reader apps to open external payments has little impact.

b. Opening up external payment does not mean not taking any money. The huge user base and product competitiveness are still the company's confidence.

c. Apple still has the right to file a lawsuit on the specific app store policy supervision, and there is still room for adjustment to the specific rules of the bill.

Appstore is the only official channel for iOS users to download applications, and must use the Apple API payment system, which has natural advantages. The AppStore provides distribution services for apps and in-app digital goods. In order to protect its own interests, Apple requires developers to agree in the "Developer Agreement" that they need to pay a commission of up to 30% for iOS apps and in-app purchases and subscriptions. ; It is forbidden to open an application store in the App Store; it is necessary to use Apple's IAP to process any transaction.

Appstore revenue growth is due to the growth of Apple's paid users and the richness of the application ecosystem. The growth of Appstore revenue is mainly due to the increase in the total transaction volume of the Appstore platform, including the number of Apple paying users brought about by hardware shipments, the time spent by users on mobile electronic products, and the increase in the number of APPs in the App Store.