According to PYMNTS.com, a coalition of European developers, including Deezer and Proton, appealed to the EU on Tuesday to act against Apple’s App Store fees. The group, the Coalition for Apps Fairness, argues Apple’s revised EU terms violate the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which requires gatekeepers to allow alternative payments without fees. Earlier this year, the European Commission fined Apple 500 million euros for breaching this law. In response, Apple introduced a new fee structure charging between 13% and 20% on App Store transactions and an additional 5% to 15% on purchases made through external links. The coalition says this leaves developers with no real relief six months after the EU’s ruling and that U.S. developers now get better terms due to a recent American court decision.
Apple’s Fee Shell Game
Here’s the thing: Apple’s strategy here is painfully transparent. The DMA said “free of charge” for steering users to other payment methods. So what did Apple do? They technically allowed the steering, but then slapped a fee on the transaction anyway. It’s a classic gatekeeper move. They’ve created a system where the “compliance” is just a different form of the same rent-seeking. The core issue is that Apple still wants a cut of every digital transaction that happens on its platform, regardless of who processes the payment. And by setting the external link fee at up to 15%, they’ve made sure it’s rarely economical for a developer to even bother building an external system. Why go through the hassle and user friction if Apple’s taking nearly the same cut?
The Transatlantic Disparity
This is where it gets really interesting, and frankly, a bit galling for European devs. The coalition explicitly points out that U.S. developers are now getting a better deal because of a court ruling there. That American ruling limited Apple’s ability to collect fees on outside transactions. So we have a situation where Apple, facing different legal pressures in two major markets, is offering more favorable terms in the one where it was sued by a private company (Epic Games) than in the one where it was fined half a billion euros by a government regulator. What does that tell you? It suggests Apple views the EU’s fines as a cost of business, but the U.S. legal precedent as a more fundamental threat to its model. That’s a dangerous calculation.
What Happens Next?
The ball is now firmly in the European Commission’s court. The coalition’s lawyer, Gene Burrus, said it plainly: “We want the EU Commission to tell Apple that the law is the law.” They’re even floating the idea of taking this to the European Court of Justice. Apple has said it will introduce more policy changes in January, but hasn’t said what they are. That lack of detail just fuels the frustration. Is this a genuine attempt to comply, or just another stalling tactic? The EU has shown it’s willing to levy huge fines. But if the fines don’t actually change the behavior, then what? This is becoming a major test of the DMA’s teeth. Can it actually force a structural change in how a tech giant operates, or will it just become a new line item on their legal budget? I think we’re about to find out.
