Apple’s New Leaders Reportedly Eye a More Profitable App Store

Apple’s reported App Store strategy under CEO John Ternus and services chief Eddy Cue is straightforward in principle: make the marketplace less costly to operate and create more recurring revenue from the developers that depend on it. The potential changes—automation of parts of app review, a higher annual developer fee, and traffic-based charges for the largest developers—remain reported possibilities, not announced policy. 23

What Apple is reportedly considering

Reporting based on Bloomberg’s account says Apple’s leadership is examining several levers to improve App Store revenue and margins:

• Reduce costly manual review work. Greater automation could lower the operating cost of reviewing apps, though the reporting does not establish that Apple has decided to remove human review or specify which reviews would change. 3
• Raise the annual Apple Developer Program fee. The current annual membership price referenced in the reporting is $99; a potential increase has not been confirmed by Apple. 3
• Charge large developers on an ongoing basis for traffic Apple sends them. The reported concept is a subscription-style charge linked to traffic, rather than solely a commission tied to a transaction. Details such as thresholds, rates and scope have not been reported as settled. 3

Taken together, these ideas would shift the App Store further toward a services-style business: lower internal costs and more predictable, recurring revenue. But they would also alter the economics of distributing software on Apple devices, especially for companies that already have contentious relationships with the platform.

The leadership shift puts the App Store under Services

The management reshuffle itself is not speculative. Phil Schiller stepped back from oversight of the App Store and Apple product events while retaining the Apple Fellow title. App Store responsibility moved to Eddy Cue’s Services organization, with longtime App Store executive Carson Oliver running day-to-day operations and reporting to Cue. 614

That structure matters because the App Store is both a product gatekeeper and a major services business. Under the new arrangement, Cue has direct organizational responsibility for it, while Oliver handles operations. Reports also link Schiller’s departure from the operating role to disagreement over pursuing more aggressive monetization that could aggravate developers and governments. 23

The reporting should not be read as proof that Schiller’s transition had one single cause. What is clear is that he no longer runs the store, and the new team has reportedly been tasked with finding ways to improve its economics. 26

Why new fees would be especially sensitive

Apple is making these reported internal considerations while recalibrating its App Store business terms in Europe. In August, Apple said it would replace the EU’s per-install Core Technology Fee with a 5% commission on digital transactions in apps distributed outside the App Store. The new EU terms are due to take effect on October 1, 2026. 17

The change followed disputes over Apple’s compliance with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act. Reuters reported that regulators had criticized Apple’s prior conditions as commercial barriers that impeded developers from directing customers outside the App Store. 17

That backdrop makes any broadly applied new developer charge politically and legally delicate. A traffic-based fee or higher membership fee would not automatically be the same as the retired per-install charge, but it could invite scrutiny if regulators or developers saw it as preserving the burden of Apple’s earlier model under a different label.

What this could mean for developers

For most developers, the immediate practical takeaway is not that a new charge is imminent. Apple has not announced a revised Developer Program price, a traffic-fee system or a wholesale replacement of human app review.

Still, the reported options identify the areas worth watching:

1. Developer account costs: A rise from the current $99 annual program fee would affect even small teams and independent developers. 3
2. Review and enforcement: More automation could make review faster or cheaper, but developers would want clarity on appeals, false positives and human escalation paths.
3. Terms for large platforms: A traffic-linked recurring charge, if adopted, could reshape negotiations with large app publishers that receive substantial distribution from Apple.
4. Regional differences: Europe already has a distinct set of evolving business terms, so any future global policy would need to be evaluated separately from the EU framework. 17

The bottom line

Apple’s App Store is moving under a leadership team reportedly focused on expanding services revenue. The reported menu of options—automation, a higher $99 membership fee and traffic-based charges for major developers—would pursue that goal from different angles. 23

For now, those are proposals under consideration rather than policy. The confirmed development is Apple’s EU fee-model change, including the replacement of the Core Technology Fee with a 5% commission for certain digital transactions outside the App Store starting October 1, 2026. 17 Any broader monetization push will have to contend with the developer backlash and regulatory attention that have already made the App Store one of Apple’s most closely watched businesses.