By realmnova 
Apple recently attributed the closure of the third-party application shop Setapp to the “political delaying tactics” of the European Commission, which is known to be preparing to hold Apple responsible. This anomalous development highlights the continuing power of the technological giants and regulatory agencies following the fall of the Digital Market Act. Setapp developer MacPaw accused Apple’s “continuous and complex” commercial clauses as a trigger for its withdrawal and stressed that they were incompatible with Setapp’s current business model. But Apple countered in the statement: “We submitted a formal compliance plan in October, and the European Commission has not yet responded. They are misleading the public through political delaying tactics, constantly changing the rules and unjustly treating an American company with cumbersome investigations and harsh fines.”
It is noteworthy that the European Commission is expected to rule that the failure to resolve the complexity of the business clause led to the closure of Setapp. Since the entry into force of the EU Digital Market Act in 2024, apples have been allowed to operate a third-party application store, but conditions such as a fee of 0.5 euros per million installation have been set. The European Commission fined apples 500 million euros in April 2025 for dissatisfaction with apple compliance, in particular by providing third-party payment links to users against their restricted developers. In response, Apple adjusted the third-party application shop pricing structure in June 2025 to divide applications into two levels: one for the use of mandatory store services and one for the use of optional store services. Developers participating in the Small Enterprise Scheme are entitled to a lower rate of 2 per cent of the initial subscription fee for all developers, except for the members of the Scheme and applications for renewal of subscriptions after the first year.
A core technical fee of Euro0.5 is payable for applications over a million annual installation. If the developer agrees with the additional terms of Apple StoreKit’s authorization to purchase links externally (EU), then it pays 5 per cent of the core technical commission instead of the non-core technical fee. Although the new system of rates is initially complex, it can actually reduce costs significantly. For example, when a first-level application developer accepts an external purchase link clause, only 5 per cent of the store service fee plus 5 per cent of the core technical commission is required, at a total rate of only 10 per cent.