Apple Inc announced on Monday major price hikes for apps and in-app purchases on its App Store, excluding auto-renewable subscriptions, in Egypt and other several countries in Asia and Europe effective from October 5.
The new prices will affect consumers in Egypt, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, South Korea, Sweden, Vietnam, and all territories that use Euro, Apple said in a blog post.
Apple didn’t determine the reason behind this, it is likely to counter weak local currencies against the dollar. The percentage rise varies across regions. For instance, prices in South Korea have been jumped by 20-25 percent. In Japan, prices rose by 30-35 percent, while regions that use Euro, the hike is between 8-10 percent. This may vary based on various tiers, though.
Apple’s new price in Vietnam also includes remit applicable taxes, being value-added tax (VAT) and corporate income tax (CIT) at 5 percent rates severally. Developers have increased App Store prices by 40 percent year-on-year citing Apple’s anti-tracking measures as a likely reason, according to the announcement.
In August 2021, Apple boosted the in-app purchase price for users in South Africa, the UK, and all regions using Euro. Consequently, it’s the second raise in two years for many European users. Apple pointed that once these changes are rolled out, developers will see new prices in the My Apps app section. The company recorded $19.6 billion service revenue in Q2 2022, which includes App Store earnings, with a 12 percent year-on-year increase. Notwithstanding, it dropped marginally short of analyst expectations of $19.7 billion.
Moreover, local rules, like the ones in South Korea and Japan, might force Apple to let go of some revenue by taking a discounted cut from developers when they use alternative payment systems. Apple is expanding ads, in order to earn more revenue from App Store, to appear in more places in the App Store like the ‘Today’ homepage and individual app pages.
