App Store Business Unhindered By Lawsuits, Apple Pays Developers Rp857 Trillion

Apple's payments to developers account for 70 percent to 85 percent of Apple's total gross revenue. (photo: Doc. MacRumors)

JAKARTA - Despite facing many antitrust lawsuits and getting stricter regulations in certain countries, Apple is reported to have paid developers as much as 60 billion US dollars or equivalent to Rp857 trillion.

This rate, of course, shows that sales on the App Store continue to grow faster. In comparison, Apple said in 2019 it had paid floats 155 billion US dollars since 2008. By the end of 2020, the company had paid 200 US dollars, an increase of 45 billion US dollars from the previous year.

Unfortunately, the amount of payments Apple shares no longer helps provide clarity about the state of the App Store economy as a whole, as the percentages paid out by individual apps vary.

In recent years, Apple has adjusted its commission structure to reduce its own developer revenue cuts amid increased regulatory scrutiny of App Store business practices, antitrust complaints, and lawsuits, including the ongoing case with Epic Games.

However, by showing those statistics, Apple wants to show how its services business is growing to investors and analysts who want to see the company not only make money from selling hardware, but also selling services and apps to its customers.

According to reports, Apple's payments to developers have accounted for between 70 percent and 85 percent of Apple's total gross revenue from its App Store, which takes between 15 percent and 30 percent of sales from digital purchases made in apps.

This year, Apple was ordered to make App Store changes that would allow links to third-party payment options as a result of Epic's lawsuit ruling, but then Apple got a last-minute reprieve from the court order when the case was appealed.

Even so, Apple will have to loosen its grip on the App Store in other markets, such as Japan and South Korea, where regulators are pushing Apple to allow links to external websites and take other actions to curb its commissions.