This Week in Apps: Apple slashes commissions, Twitter launches Fleets, warnings about Parler

In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined $544 billion valuation, 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus.The changes apply to developers with less than $1 million in revenue.Image Credits: TechCrunchImage Credits: TechCrunchApple this week announced a major shakeup to its App Store commission rate. Qualification for the new App Store Small Business Program, as it’s called, will be re-assessed revenues on an annual basis going forward.The changes arrive at a time when Apple has been under increased regulatory scrutiny over how its App Store operates, which includes antitrust investigations in the U.S. and E.U. It has also waged war with developers throughout the year over in-app purchases, leading the company to revise its already complex rules even further, and spell out how and when it gets to charge its so-called “Apple tax.” And it’s in the middle of a nasty legal battle with Fortnite maker Epic Games, which doesn’t want to be forced to use Apple payments or even, necessarily, the App Store.The commission changes may help silence some disgruntled voices from the wider app development community, while giving Apple a way to show regulators that it’s enabling fair competition.However, several of Apple’s largest and harshest critics reacted negatively to the news.The advocacy group, the Coalition for App Fairness, which includes Epic, Basecamp, Deezer, Match Group, Spotify and many others, said: “developers want a level playing field from Apple, not a symbolic gesture.” They argued that Apple still owns the customer relationship, the threshold of $1M is arbitrary, and they said the majority of developers who “generate livable revenue,” won’t benefit.App makers band together to fight for App Store changes with new ‘Coalition for App Fairness’Match, Spotify and Epic separately echoed these sentiments in statements of their own.Apple, though, had claimed the change would benefit the “vast majority” of the App Store development community. This group of developers accounts for 567,000 unique apps, or 93% of all apps generating revenue through in-app purchases.Combined, their revenues represented just under 8% of the overall App Store revenue share — in other words, it’s money Apple could stand to lose.Image Credits: App AnnieImage Credits: App AnnieApp Annie also found that the group of mid-range developers who are “nearing” that $1 million threshold is really small. And just over 1% are in the $500,000-$800,000 range.Most developers have much smaller revenue streams, with 87.7% making less than $100,000 in 2019.Image Credits: App AnnieImage Credits: App AnnieSome expressed concern that Apple’s system would unfairly penalize developers who made just $1 over the $1 million threshold, and then trap them at the higher rate (30%).If you sell $1 over $1M on the @AppStore, you won’t match the income again the next year unless you make *$430K* more. Dorsey disagreed with the characterization that their involvement had any impact on product development.Apple’s IDFA gets targeted in strategic EU privacy complaintsMessaging app Go SMS Pro exposed millions of users’ private photos and filesSnap acquired Voisey, an app to create music tracks overlaying your own vocalsFacebook sues operator of Instagram clone sitesTwitter and Facebook’s diverging philosophies were on display in the latest tech hearingDeadpoolGoogle pulls the plug on Expeditions VR app, migrates tours to Arts & CultureTrendsImage Credits: Sensor TowerImage Credits: Sensor Tower Image Credits: DuolingoImage Credits: DuolingoAllRight, an English language learning app for children, raises $5M from Genesis InvestmentsAmazon this week launched GameOn for Android, an app that lets users record 30-second to five-minute long gameplay clips — including through a “Recall” feature that saves the clip after it happens.