Apple warns lower App Store fee will 'materially' impact financial results

App Store
App Store (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple warned investors about the impact of App Store fee changes.
  • The company mentioned the impact in an SEC filing Friday.
  • Lowering or eliminating App Store fees would cause results to be "materially adversely affected."

Reported by Bloomberg, Apple has warned investors that, if the company's fee for app and in-app purchases in the App Store was reduced, that it would hurt its overall financial performance.

The warning in a regulatory filing Friday came amid criticism from lawmakers and others about the cut of as much as 30% that Apple takes from third-party developers selling software through the App Store across the iPhone maker's devices.

In a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple said that a change in its current fee schedule for operating the App Store cause its financial results to be "materially adversely affected."

"If the rate of the commission that the company retains on such sales is reduced, or if it is otherwise narrowed in scope or eliminated, the company's financial condition and operating results could be materially adversely affected."

Apple has charged its 30% fee for purchases in the App Store since its inception in 2008, a year after the introduction of the iPhone. When the company began to support in-app purchases, it extended the 30% to those as well. The company eventually decided to only charge 15% for app subscriptions that last longer than a year.

The company has come under scrutiny for its App Store fees but has maintained that its fees are in line with the rest of the industry. Google, Microsoft, and Sony all charge the same fees for their respective app stores.

Joe Wituschek
Contributor

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.