Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2024-01-29
Apple’s Response to the EU’s DMA: What Developers Need to Know
Live panel recorded the day after Apple announced its EU Digital Markets Act compliance. RevenueCat's David Barnard, Jacob Eiting and Jens-Fabian Goetzmann, Runway's Gabriel Savit and Adjacent's Nico Wittenborn cover the opt-in terms (17%/10% commission, 3% payment fee, EUR 0.50 Core Technology Fee above 1M installs), alternative payments and marketplaces. Verdict: nearly all developers should stay on the old terms; niches are high-conversion hard-paywall apps, B2B seats and paid game stores.
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Numbers mentioned
| Who | Metric | Value | Context | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | commission rate | 17% | App Store commission under the new EU terms, replacing 30% (big apps, first-year subscriptions) | 13:26 |
| Apple | commission rate | 10% | App Store commission under the new EU terms, replacing 15% (Small Business Program, subscriptions after year one) | 13:26 |
| Apple | commission rate | 3% | Extra payment processing fee when using Apple in-app purchase under the new terms | 13:26 |
| Apple | commission rate | 13–20% | Effective total with Apple IAP under the new terms (vs 15%/30%), before the Core Technology Fee | 16:00 |
| Apple | cost | EUR 0.5per first annual install /year | Core Technology Fee under the new terms, charged on first annual installs above 1M a year; updates and reinstalls count, so it works out to about EUR 0.50 per EU user with the app per year | 16:00 |
| Apple | count | 1M installs/year | Free threshold of first annual installs before the Core Technology Fee applies | 16:00 |
| Apple | cost | USD 1M approximate | Line of credit a third-party marketplace must put up with Apple (stated as million-dollar; Apple's terms say EUR 1M) | 31:57 |
| Apple | count | 600 APIs approximate | New APIs Apple released as part of DMA compliance | 52:59 |
| marketiPhone users in the EU | users | 100M–200M users estimate | 17:29 | |
| David Barnard's own app (just moved to a hard paywall) | conversion rate | 25% approximate | Install -> trial start in the first 24 hours after switching to a hard paywall ('even on the high end') | 23:59 |
| benchmarkBreak-even for opting into Apple's new EU terms (guest's formulas) | arpu | EUR 5per install estimate | Annual plan price multiplied by install-to-paid conversion rate must exceed about 5 for the new terms to pay off | 21:20 |
| benchmarkBreak-even for second-year renewals under Apple's new EU terms (guest's formulas) | arpu | EUR 25per retained user estimate | Annual subscription needs to be about EUR 25 or more per user still installed in year two, counting free and paid users | 21:20 |
| aggregateHigh-conversion, hard-paywall subscription apps with few free users (guest's portfolio analysis) | margin | +5% estimate | Margin these apps could save by opting into the new terms ('5-plus percent') | 21:20 |
| aggregateCross-platform subscription apps in the guest's portfolio | share | 20% estimate | Share of revenue from Android, often from lower-priced geographies | 31:05 |
| aggregateRevenueCat customers, App Store revenue | share | 12% approximate | Share of App Store revenue from the EU | 48:35 |
| aggregateRevenueCat customers with viral, low-LTV apps, modeled under the new terms | cost | millions of dollars estimate | Core Technology Fees some customers would owe beyond their revenue, per the cohost's analysis | 19:05 |
| aggregateRespondents to the cohost's Twitter poll on Apple's EU terms | share | 80% approximate | Share choosing to stay on the old business terms (80/20 old vs new) | 59:22 |
| commission rate | +4% estimate | Commission reduction on Google Play when developers use third-party billing (vs 3% for Apple) | 58:31 | |
| commission rate | 15% | Google Play fee for subscription apps | 1:04:58 | |
| benchmarkConsumer install flows | drop off | 10%per click illustrative | Rough rule: each extra click or step in a consumer flow loses about 10% of users | 38:21 |