Apple today announced what it described as the most comprehensive update to its pricing capabilities since the launch of the App Store nearly 14 years ago.
The American tech giant said in a post on its blog that the new changes provide developers with an additional 700 price points, and new pricing tools that make it easier for them to set prices for each country or region, in addition to facilitating the management of foreign exchange rate changes, and other features.
Apple noted that its world-class commerce and payments system has enabled developers, since the inception of the App Store, to easily prepare and sell their products and services on a global scale.
The App Store’s commerce and payments ecosystem provides developers with an ever-expanding set of capabilities and tools to grow their businesses, from easy checkout and clear billing to users to powerful marketing tools, tax and fraud services, and refund management.
Pricing was the basis for these capabilities, allowing developers to choose from a variety of business models, such as one-time purchases and multiple subscription types.
Apple said these new price improvements will be available, starting today, for apps that offer auto-renewing subscriptions, and for all other apps and in-app purchases in spring 2023, giving all developers unprecedented flexibility and control over the pricing of their products in 45 currencies across 175. shop.
Apple explained that under the updated pricing system for the App Store, all developers will have the ability to choose from 900 price points, which is approximately 10 times the number of price points previously available for most applications. This includes 600 new price points to choose from, with 100 higher price points available upon request.
On each of the App Store’s 175 storefronts, developers will be able to take advantage of additional pricing agreements, including those beginning with two digits, for example, 110,000 yen, and they will be able to price products that end in 99. to the nearest number, such as 90. or .00, which will be especially useful for managing annual plans and packages.
Starting today, subscription app developers will also be able to manage currency and tax across storefronts with greater ease 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 set prices for each storefront if they wish. Storefront pricing will expand to all other apps in spring 2023.
For developers who distribute their apps worldwide, the App Store’s global parity tools give them an easy and convenient way to manage pricing across international marketplaces. Existing enhancements expand on these capabilities, allowing developers to keep their local currency stable in any storefront of their choice, even with fluctuating exchange rates and taxes.
All developers will also be able to select the availability of in-app purchases through the storefront.
Apple said it will periodically update prices in certain regions based on changes in taxes and foreign exchange rates.
It explained that this is being done using publicly available exchange rate information from financial data providers to help ensure prices for in-app purchases remain the same across all storefronts.
Starting in 2023, developers with paid apps and in-app purchases will be able to set local region prices, which will not be affected by automatic price adjustments.
