Oliver Haslam on May 4, 2022, 11:58 pm

Twitter Owner Elon Musk Says Apple’s 30% App Store Cut Is 10x What It Should Be

While Apple’s requirement of a 30% cut before allowing apps to be sold in the App Store has long garnered criticism around the world, one new voice has now been added to the mix. And it’s a loud one.

Tesla CEO and new Twitter owner Elon Musk has tweeted to say that Apple’s 30% App Store fee is much more than it should be.

He goes on to say that it is “definitely not OK’ and that the fee is “literally 10 times higher than it should be.”

The fact that Apple charges a 30% fee for processing App Store transactions is one that has proven troublesome for developers and governments alike, with antitrust measures now being put in place to deal with it. Dating apps downloaded via the Dutch App Store must now be allowed to offer links to external websites where people can handle their subscriptions, for example, something that was previously prohibited.

It’s important to remember that the 30% isn’t a flat fee, however. Apple cut that to 15% for businesses earning less than $1 million per calendar year, while some high-profile companies have been able to get reduced rates after negotiations with the iPhone maker.

Whether anyone, especially Apple, really cares what Musk has to say is a matter for debate, but this is just another example of people calling out Apple and that 30% fee. And it comes just weeks before Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference that kicks off on June 6, too.