In addition to the prices in the Apple App Store, which end at 9 cents, there are now numerous new price points. The US company has announced in a circular to registered developers that the change in the price matrix announced on December 6, 2022 also applies to all app and in-app purchases with immediate effect. After the first announcement on St. Nicholas Day, the most comprehensive change since the start of the App Store, according to Apple, initially only came into effect for in-app subscriptions.
Developers now have 900 price points to choose from, which Apple says is 10 times more than before. The price matrix now starts at EUR 0.29 and allows prices in 10 cent increments up to EUR 10. Prices ending in 90 or 95 cents as well as rounded prices are now also possible. This means that the design freedom for developers is now significantly greater – it remains to be seen whether this will ultimately lead to slightly higher or lower prices.
Developers can set base country
This is also linked to the new option of specifying a so-called base country. If Apple’s previous prices were based on the US dollar, developers can now also select regions such as Europe or countries such as Germany. The prices will be based on these from now on. This has the advantage that the US dollar exchange rate no longer has to be the measure of all things. This had a particularly negative impact in Europe in 2022, where Apple had raised euro prices due to the unfavorable exchange rate between the US dollar and the euro. Automatic worldwide adjustments by Apple due to new tax laws or exchange rates will then be a thing of the past. A total of 43 currencies are represented in the App Store.
Developers with existing apps are now encouraged to set a base country for the first time by May 9th. On that date, Apple announced it will adjust prices for one-time purchases and in-app purchases in all 175 App Store countries based on US dollar exchange rates, unless a different base country is selected. There are new tools and functions in the developer backend App Store Connect.
Regional offers possible
Also new is that in-app purchases and subscriptions can be adjusted depending on the region. This makes tailor-made content and services possible.
(mki)