Apple announces major Store Changes for their Subscription Terms

By Ajay Kadkol - 10 Jun '16 14:01PM

Apple's Phil Schiller recently sat down with several publications including The Loop and The Verge to detail some of the changes that are going to be made to the App Store under his reign, including major improvements to search, subscription access for all developers, App Store ads when searching for content, and some other smaller tweaks that should go a long way towards improving app discoverability.

Apple is also opening up app subscriptions to all product categories, giving developers more options for selling their apps and additional ways to earn revenue. An app like Workflow or Fantasticalcould be sold on a subscription basis, with customers able to obtain it for a $5/year subscription fee.

With that change, developers will be able to charge $5 per year rather than just a flat $5 fee, for an ongoing revenue stream, and they'll also be able to offer a subscription that encompasses multiple apps. Apple also plans to introduce up to 200 new tiered pricing options across different currencies and territories for app subscriptions. Subscription fee changes are also being implemented.

Currently, Apple takes a 30 percent cut of subscription fees on the App Store, but now, if a customer stays subscribed to a service for multiple years, Apple will only take a 15 percent cut, leaving 85 percent of profits for developers. That works on a per customer basis, so for customers who subscribe to Netflix through Apple, Netflix will pay Apple 30 percent during the first year and 15 percent the second year.

Apple is adding ads to App Store search results, something that was hinted at earlier this year. Ads will be displayed when a search is conducted and developers will have opportunities to purchase those ads for better app exposure. There will be one ad on the search results page, which Apple will clearly denote as an ad. Ad content will be the same content available on the App Store, and ads will only be accepted from developers. Apple plans to distribute ads through an auction