What this does for developers is that it reduces the cut that Apple takes from sales from 30% down to 15%, which is essentially half of what Apple would normally take. This will come into effect on the 1st of January, 2021. However, there is a catch and that is it only applies to developers who make less than $1 million from the App Store, meaning that it is pretty much aimed at smaller, indie developers who might not necessarily have the same amount of reach or sales as other big time developers.
According to Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, “Small businesses are the backbone of our global economy and the beating heart of innovation and opportunity in communities around the world. We’re launching this program to help small business owners write the next chapter of creativity and prosperity on the App Store, and to build the kind of quality apps our customers love.”
Like we said, we’re not sure if this change is because of the lawsuit with Epic where Epic and others have complained about the 30% cut the company takes from developers, or if it could be to encourage more developers to create programs for iOS and macOS, especially with Apple now shifting to its new M1 chipset and will need more native apps for it to succeed.