Apple's App Store: Purchasable apps for the iPhone will soon become more expensive

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App Store logo: iOS developers cannot avoid Apple's marketplace

Photo: CHRIS DELMAS / AFP

In future, you will have to pay more in Germany for many purchase apps for the iPhone or iPad.

As Apple announced on Monday, the company is planning price increases in the App Store in various countries for October 5 – including all countries that use the euro as their currency.

Both purchase apps and in-app purchases are to become more expensive.

The only exception is the prices of automatically ongoing subscriptions.

Apple explains its new price scale with a table.

According to her, the new standard app prices for the euro countries now start at 1.19 euros instead of 0.99 euros and 2.49 euros instead of 1.99 euros.

The higher-priced apps continue in a similar style, from 49.99 euros to around 59.99 euros.

In practical terms, Apple's move means that, for example, all apps and mobile games that are currently available for EUR 0.99 will automatically cost around 20 percent more from October 5th.

The app developers have no say in this increase; Apple, as the platform operator, has spoken its power here.

The explanation is probably the euro exchange rate

If developers are dissatisfied with the new prices, they can only give their apps new prices from Apple's table or offer their programs for free.

However, you cannot insist on simply maintaining the previous sales price.

Developers who want to bring their apps to iPhones or iPads depend on the App Store as a distribution channel.

Unlike Android devices, there are no alternative app marketplaces for Apple smartphones and tablets.

Basically, the company keeps 15 to 30 percent of the revenue that developers of apps and mobile games generate through the App Store.

In its announcement, the company does not make it clear exactly why Apple is now turning the price screw so violently.

Presumably, however, the US company is reacting to the weak euro.

Regarding the surprisingly high prices for the new iPhone, Apple circles recently said that the historic low of the euro against the dollar had been taken into account when setting the price.

Apple has also lowered its standard app prices in the past.

In the summer of 2021, for example, the entry-level price for purchase apps was EUR 1.09, which was then reduced to the current EUR 0.99.

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