Apple has today announced that it is making further tweaks to its EU App Store terms, specifically regarding its controversial Core Technology Fee charged to developers under the new terms. Perhaps more excitingly, it has also announced that recent iOS changes made in the EU are coming to iPadOS later this fall.
Apple has introduced alternative app marketplaces and web distribution (sideloading) to iPhone in the EU. However, the new business terms come burdened with a ‘Core Technology Fee’ (CTF), which charges users a €0.50 payment for each first annual install of an app over one million in the past 12 months. Put simply, a developer under the new rules who incurs 2 million app downloads in a year would be on the hook for €500,000. In an announcement Thursday, Apple has confirmed two additional conditions under which payment of the Core Technology Fee is not required. Apple says this will ensure “Only developers who reach significant scale (more than one million first annual installs per year in the EU) pay the CTF.”
