Apple Announces Biggest Upgrade to App Store Pricing, Adding 700 New Price Points

Rhea-AI Summary

Apple has introduced significant enhancements to its App Store pricing capabilities, offering developers an additional 700 price points. This update enables pricing adjustments across 175 storefronts and supports 45 currencies, greatly improving customization for developers.

New features include the ability to set prices starting at $0.29 up to $10,000, and flexibility to manage foreign exchange and tax impacts. The changes aim to empower developers by simplifying their pricing strategies while maintaining accessibility for users worldwide.

Positive

• Introduction of 700 new price points, increasing total to 900.
• Developers can manage pricing in 45 currencies across 175 storefronts.
• Pricing flexibility allows prices to be adjusted based on foreign exchange rates.
• New tools enable better management of subscriptions and pricing strategies.

Negative

• None.

Developers will also gain new flexibility to manage pricing globally

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Apple® today announced the most comprehensive upgrade to pricing capabilities since the App Store® first launched, providing developers with 700 additional price points and new pricing tools that will make it easier to set prices per App Store country or region, manage foreign exchange rate changes, and more.

Adjusted price points in USD (Graphic: Business Wire)

Since the App Store’s inception, its world-class commerce and payments system has empowered developers to conveniently set up and sell their products and services on a global scale. The App Store’s commerce and payments system offers developers an ever-expanding set of capabilities and tools to grow their businesses, from frictionless checkout and transparent invoicing for users to robust marketing tools, tax and fraud services, and refund management.

Pricing has been foundational to these capabilities, enabling developers to choose from a variety of business models, such as one-time purchases and multiple subscription types. These new pricing enhancements will be available for apps offering auto-renewable subscriptions starting today, and for all other apps and in-app purchases in spring 2023, giving all developers unprecedented flexibility and control to price their products in 45 currencies throughout 175 storefronts.

Under the updated App Store pricing system, all developers will have the ability to select from 900 price points, which is nearly 10 times the number of price points previously available for most apps. This includes 600 new price points to choose from, with an additional 100 higher price points available upon request. To provide developers around the world with even more flexibility, price points — which will start as low as $0.29 and, upon request, go up to $10,000 — will offer an enhanced selection of price points, increasing incrementally across price ranges (for example, every $0.10 up to $10; every $0.50 between $10 and $50; etc.).

In each of the App Store’s 175 storefronts, developers will be able to leverage additional pricing conventions, including those that begin with two repeating digits (e.g., ₩110,000), and will be able to price products beyond $0.99 or €X.99 endings to incorporate rounded price endings (e.g., x.00 or x.90), which are particularly useful for managing bundles and annual plans.

Starting today, developers of subscription apps will also be able to manage currency and taxes across storefronts more effortlessly by choosing a local storefront they know best as the basis for automatically generating prices across the other 174 storefronts and 44 currencies. Developers will still be able to define prices per storefront if they wish. The pricing capability by storefront will expand to all other apps in spring 2023.

For developers distributing their apps around the world, the App Store’s global equalization tools have given them a simple and convenient way to manage pricing across international markets. Today’s enhancements expand upon these capabilities, allowing developers to keep their local currency constant in any storefront of their choice, even as foreign exchange and taxes fluctuate. This means, for example, a Japanese game developer who gets most of their business from Japanese customers can set their price for the Japan storefront, and have their prices outside of the country update as foreign exchange and tax rates change. All developers will also be able to define availability of in-app purchases by storefront.

Periodically, Apple updates prices in certain regions based on changes in taxes and foreign exchange rates. This is done using publicly available exchange rate information from financial data providers to help ensure prices for in-app purchases stay equalized across all storefronts. Currently, developers can adjust pricing at any time to react to tax and foreign currency adjustments. Coming in 2023, developers with paid apps and in-app purchases will be able to set local territory pricing, which will not be impacted by automatic price adjustments.

These newly announced tools, which will begin rolling out today and continue throughout 2023, will create even more flexibility for developers to price their products while staying approachable to the hundreds of millions of users Apple serves worldwide, and in turn help developers continue to thrive on the App Store.

Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Apple’s five software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple Newsroom (www.apple.com/newsroom), or call Apple’s Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.

© 2022 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, and App Store are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221206005860/en/

Press Contacts:

Peter Ajemian

Apple

pajemian@apple.com

212-822-9882

Adam Dema

Apple

adamdema@apple.com

669-276-9420

Source: Apple

FAQ

What are the new pricing capabilities introduced by Apple for the App Store?

Apple has introduced 700 additional pricing points, raising the total to 900, allowing developers more flexibility.

When will the new pricing tools be available to developers?

The new pricing tools for subscription apps are available starting today, with broader access for all apps in spring 2023.

How many currencies can developers manage with the new App Store pricing system?

Developers can manage pricing in 45 currencies across 175 storefronts with the new system.

What is the range of price points available under the new App Store pricing system?

Price points range from $0.29 up to $10,000, depending on the request.

How does Apple ensure pricing remains equalized for developers across different storefronts?

Apple uses publicly available exchange rate information to periodically adjust pricing based on taxes and foreign exchange rates.