As expected, Apple has today formally appealed the €500 million fine it received from the European Commission for allegedly violating the Digital Markets Act.
As a refresher, Apple announced major changes to the App Store in the EU in March 2024, including alternative app marketplaces, new business terms for developers, and support for third-party browser engines.
The European Union issued its first fines against Apple and Meta under the DMA in April. The commission said that the fine was due to Apple’s App Store anti-steering policies, and that the amount of the fine was determined by the gravity and duration of Apple’s non-compliance.
Apple made further changes to the App Store rules in the EU last week, particularly related to those anti-steering policies. The company removed many of the barriers previously in place for developers seeking to direct users to alternative payment solutions and introduced a new set of business terms that cover these types of transactions.
In a statement to 9to5Mac, Apple says that the European Commission is “mandating” how Apple runs the App Store, ultimately harming both developers and users. The company adds that it implemented these changes to “avoid punitive daily fines” from the European Commission.
“Today we filed our appeal because we believe the European Commission’s decision—and their unprecedented fine—go far beyond what the law requires. As our appeal will show, the EC is mandating how we run our store and forcing business terms which are confusing for developers and bad for users. We implemented this to avoid punitive daily fines and will share the facts with the Court.”
Apple also reiterates that the EU has continuously redefined what exactly it needs to do under the DMA. In particular, Apple says the European Commission has expanded the definition of steering. Apple adjusted its guidelines to allow EU developers to link out to external payment methods and use alternative in-app payment methods last year. Now, however, Apple says the EU has redefined steering to include promotions of in-app alternative payment options and in-app webviews, as well as linking to other alternative app marketplaces and the third-party apps distributed through those marketplaces.
Furthermore, Apple says that the EU mandated that the Store Services Fee include multiple tiers. When Apple first announced the Store Services Fee last August, it was 10% for developers operating under the EU alternative business terms (reduced to 5% for members of the App Store Small Business Program). For developers operating under standard business terms, the rate was 20% (reduced to 7% for members of the App Store Small Business Program).
In the most recent changes to the App Store rules in the EU, Apple split the Store Services Fee into two separate tiers.
Tier One: 5% fee
- Access to a limited set of mandatory App Store services, including app distribution and delivery, trust and safety features.
Tier Two: 13% fee, reduced to 10% for Small Business Program members and tenured subscriptions
- Access to all services provided by the App Store today.
You can view the full breakdown of the two tiers on Apple’s developer website.
Apple says that it was the EU who dictated which features should be included in which tier. For example, the EU mandated that Apple move app discovery features to the second tier.
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