According to Friday's latest news, although Apple, which has been recognized as the "gatekeeper" of technology giants, has made a series of historic changes in the face of the recently effective "Digital Markets Act" by the European Union, it has still not escaped the fate of EU accusations.
More importantly, Apple is also likely to become the first technology giant to be accused after the launch of the EU's new digital bill.
Old problems not fixed and new problems arise again
According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, an investigation by the European Union has confirmed that Apple has failed to fulfill its obligation to allow app developers to guide users outside the App Store without charging additional fees.
If Apple is found to have violated the law, the fine can reach up to 5% of its daily revenue, roughly exceeding $1 billion.
Of course, Apple's "flaw" is not only that it has not met the requirements of an open app store ecosystem, but also that the newly introduced "core technology usage fees" this year have raised regulatory concerns.
As a response to the implementation of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple announced at the beginning of the year that it would allow app sideloading in the EU market - allowing users to download apps from third-party app stores and naturally use other payment channels.
This also means that Apple cannot receive up to 30% of the App Store commission. To address this issue, Apple has done two things: for developers who continue to use the App Store, the commission rate has been reduced from a maximum of 30% to 17%, while the commission rate for subscriptions or small businesses over a year has been further reduced to 10%.
For developers who try to bypass the App Store, Apple is indeed unable to charge a commission, but has prepared another form of payment - "core technology usage fees.". For software with an annual download volume exceeding 1 million times, developers are required to pay 0.5 euros to Apple for the first time a user installs the software each year. It should be noted that installing software updates also counts as the number of times, so this money is equivalent to the annual fee that application developers need to pay to Apple regularly based on the number of customers.
Apple also thoughtfully created a "core technology usage fee" calculator for developers. For an app that has been installed 10 million times a year, even if it is distributed from a third-party app store without generating any revenue, developers still need to pay a monthly fee of 375000 euros to Apple, which is 4.5 million euros in a year.
(Source: Apple Support)
Some developers believe that due to this additional fee, they actually have to pay more "Apple tax". According to Sensor Tower's statistics, in the second quarter of the EU's new regulations, consumer spending on the Apple App Store remained relatively stable, indicating that most developers are still in a wait-and-see state, and the new regulations have little impact on Apple's "wallet".
Insiders say that the European Union may also make preliminary charges against Apple regarding this fee in the near future.
The goal is not just apples
Apple declined to comment on the "first bullet" that may receive new regulations, pointing to a previous statement stating that Apple believes its plans comply with the Digital Markets Act and will continue to engage in constructive interaction with the European Union to cooperate with their investigation.
Apart from Apple, other US tech giants are also within the EU's "range": the cases under investigation include whether Google's parent company Alphabet favored its own app store, and whether Meta improperly used personal data in EU advertising.
The EU's investigation is also a microcosm of the global antitrust authorities' increasing review of the head Internet platform. In March of this year, the US Department of Justice officially sued Apple, accusing it of abusing its position in the smartphone industry, suppressing competitors, and limiting consumer choices.