Recently, Apple announced the upcoming launch of an “App Store Small Business Program” designed to lower its commission rates from 30% to 15% for developers with annual App Store revenues under $1 million.

The rollout of this program has begun, and Apple initiated the registration process earlier today.

Details of the program are available on Apple’s website, and several key aspects are noteworthy:

• The program is available to both new developers and current developers who have earned less than $1 million this year across all of their applications.
• The commission rate will revert to the standard rate once a developer’s yearly earnings exceed $1 million.
• After the program begins following December 31, developers participating in the program will be unable to transfer apps to or from other accounts—likely to prevent attempts to circumvent the revenue limit. Apple states, “If you initiate an app transfer after December 31, 2020, or accept a transfer of an app that was initiated after December 31, 2020,” you will forfeit eligibility for the program.
• Developers managing multiple developer accounts are required to identify each account.

According to Apple, enrollment completed by December 18 should result in the reduced fees taking effect on January 1, 2021. While existing developers can still enroll after this date, the implementation of reduced fees will generally occur in the middle of the subsequent fiscal month.