After penalty: EU Commission allegedly approves 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 from the EU Commission for its new fee model for app providers in the EU. This was reported by the news agency Reuters, citing insiders. This would allow Apple to avoid further penalty payments, which could amount to up to 50 million US dollars per day.

In April, the competition authorities imposed a fine of 500 million euros on Apple for violating the provisions of the Digital Markets Act. The reason for this was that the company 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 to –, which is currently being investigated by the Commission.

Multi-level fee model for app providers

The controversial "Core Technology Fee", which was based on app installations, will be replaced by a "Core Technology Commission" amounting to 5 percent of revenue from the sale of digital content. Apple previously announced that this would generally apply to the sale of apps in the EU from the start of 2026. The company is yet to provide further details.

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

iOS and iPadOS apps that use Apple's long-standing mandatory in-app purchase interface must pay a 20 percent commission to Apple. For the first time in the EU, external payment service providers may also be used for in-app purchases, in which case Apple will reduce its commission by 3 percentage points to 17 percent.

Apple's App Store commission thus appears to fall from 30 to 20 percent and from 15 to 13 percent for smaller developers. This applies at least to sales within the European Union that are made in iOS and iPadOS apps.

Although the Group allows app providers to link to their own purchase options, for example on a website, or to integrate their own payment options into apps, it continues to charge a commission on the revenue generated from the sale of digital content.

Digital Markets Act sets out 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 refer their customers to their own offers "free of charge". It remains unclear how Apple's fee model can be reconciled with this requirement. In May, Brussels was still saying that Apple could charge a fee for the "first acquisition", but only to an appropriate amount. Apple's latest proposals are still being examined, the Commission now emphasizes in a statement to Reuters – "all options are on the table".

(lbe)