Apple App Store Prices To Rise In Europe

Apple has raised its App Store prices in several countries in Asia and South America, as well as the entire Eurozone, beginning as soon as 5 October.

Apple made the announcement in a blog post for its developer community, saying that from 5 October, “prices of apps and in-app purchases (excluding auto-renewable subscriptions) on the App Store will increase in Chile, Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, South Korea, Sweden, Vietnam, and all territories that use the euro currency.”

The Vietnam price increase is because of new regulations for Apple to collect and remit applicable taxes.

Price rises

“Once these changes go into effect, the Pricing and Availability section of My Apps will be updated,” said Apple.

It told developers that they “can change the price of your apps and in-app purchases (including auto-renewable subscriptions) at any time in App Store Connect.”

And Apple said that if developers offer subscriptions, they can choose to preserve prices for existing subscribers.

Apple did not give any reason (except for Vietnam) as to why it is rising its App Store prices for developers.

However Reuters noted that Apple periodically adjusts its prices in different regions and it actually reduced prices for euro zone countries last year to adjust for currencies and taxes, dropping starting prices for many apps to 99 euro cents from 1.09 euros.

The latest price rise, increases those starting prices to 1.19 euros.

Currency move?

Reuters noted that the price increases come amid a rapid rise in inflation, interest rates and energy prices this year – all of which has hammered the yen, the euro and most emerging economy currencies.

Reuters pointed out that the euro has dropped to two-decade lows this year and has been languishing around parity against the dollar for weeks, meaning Apple’s share of the profits coming from overseas has also shrunk.

According to Reuters, while inflation is undoubtedly a factor, Apple might be trying to get a bigger cut of new app-buying habits that have changed thanks to its own App Transparency Tracking (ATT) initiative, which caused some 85 percent of iOS users to reject third-party tracking on their devices.

That’s not to say Apple has been losing money due to ATT, as Reuters noted the move has been a huge windfall for Apple’s own advertising arm. Apple’s Search Ads, which display in the App Store and are used to promote apps, have jumped since ATT’s introduction to become one of the top three mobile app advertising platforms along with Meta and Google’s.