Apple notifies developers of App Store price changes and new price tiers coming to several countries this week

Apple has sent an email to app developers notifying them that over the next 36 hours several countries will see App Store prices change. Four markets will see price increases: Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, and Turkey. Developers will also now be able to choose from two new pricing tiers in some countries.

Developers selling their apps in the South Korean App Store will see price increases to add a 10% value-added tax. For those software makers living outside of that country, Apple will pay the tax on their behalf. However, those based in South Korea will be responsible for the payment themselves.

Customers subscribing to recurring services in three of the four countries mentioned above will need to resubscribe to those services due to price increases. In Mexico customers will simply be charged the new price automatically without the need to resubscribe.

Finally, new pricing tiers have been added in Turkey, Mexico, South Africa, Russia, Indonesia, and India. Apps already using “Alternate Tier A” and “Alternate Tier B” pricing options in China will automatally have the same setting applied in the new countries as well.

All of these changes are scheduled to be completed by Thursday morning (on Pacific time). You can read the full letter below.

Hi [Developer],

We sometimes need to update prices on the App Store whenever taxes or foreign exchange rates change. Within the next 36 hours, prices will increase in the following App Store territories:

• Mexico
• South Africa
• South Korea
• Turkey

Purchases on the South Korean App Store now include a value-added tax (VAT) of 10 percent. If you’re a developer based outside of South Korea, we’ll pay the VAT that we’ll be collecting for you. If you’re a developer based in South Korea, you’re still responsible for paying the VAT.

Because of the price increases, customers with auto-renewable subscriptions on the South African, South Korean, and Turkish App Store will need to resubscribe. However, although the prices are also changing for subscriptions on the Mexican App Store, we won’t interrupt those.

We’ll send an email to your subscribers in these territories shortly before their subscription renews to let them know that the price of their existing subscription will increase. The email also has a link that will let customers resubscribe, or in Mexico, turn their subscription off.

In addition, we’re also adding two new low-price tiers, Alternate Tier A and Alternate Tier B, for the Indian, Indonesian, Mexican, Russian, South African, and Turkish App Store. We’ll update prices for existing apps and In-App Purchases that already use the Alternate Tier A and Alternate Tier B price tiers on the Chinese App Store.

You’ll be able to review the new prices in the updated price-tier matrix in Rights and Pricing in My Apps within the next 36 hours.

Have any questions? Get in touch.

The App Store team