Smallerik
Inside the line · Outside the line

Five jurisdictions, twenty-eight pieces. One handset that behaves differently on each side of the border.

Smallerik covers who sets the rules on a phone, jurisdiction by jurisdiction, and what the numbers show.

Section 3 of five

Fifteen per cent is the whole argument

The 30% commission, the small-business programme, subscription revenue's share of app income, ARPU by market, user acquisition costs after ATT, and what the top-grossing charts show as public data.

6 piecesThe Numbers

BrusselsThe CourtsThe NumbersThe StoresThe Apps
A laptop screen showing a developer analytics console with revenue figures visible, an adult's hands resting on the keyboard, photographed in office light

Everything in The Numbers

6 pieces
  • Orange heart icon centered on a solid purple backgroundPhoto: App Store Icon · Wikimedia Commons

    The Numbers · piece 1

    Thirty Per Cent, and Nobody Argued

    The history of the App Store's 30% commission from its 2008 introduction — when it was roughly what a physical retailer took — through eight years of stasis to the regulatory and litigation pressure that produced the 15% small-business tier.

    Sources: Apple's published commission schedules and the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing record.
  • Two red balloons printed with large white percentage symbols against a light backgroundPhoto: https://kaboompics.com/ / Pexels

    The Numbers · piece 2

    The 15% Tier in Practice

    What the App Store Small Business Programme and Google Play's equivalent actually changed for developers under the threshold, who qualifies, and what the analytics firms' estimates say about the revenue share it affected.

    Sources: Apple and Google's published programme terms; Appfigures estimates as of their publication date.
  • A hand holds a smartphone showing streaming app icons in front of a smart TV home screenPhoto: Jakub Zerdzicki / Pexels

    The Numbers · piece 3

    The Revenue Moved to Subscriptions

    How subscription revenue came to dominate app-store income, displacing paid-up-front and in-app purchase, with Sensor Tower and Appfigures figures (attributed and dated) showing the shift by year and category.

    Covers the commission structure difference — 15% after year one — and what it means for the top-grossing charts.
  • Close-up of a smartphone home screen showing the Apple Maps app iconPhoto: Brett Jordan / Pexels

    The Numbers · piece 4

    ATT and the Networks That Absorbed the Loss

    App Tracking Transparency's April 2021 launch and its measured effect on mobile advertising revenue — Snap's earnings guidance warning, Meta's $10 billion loss estimate, and the shift to SKAdNetwork.

    Reported as a market event with attributed figures, not as guidance. Sources: company earnings calls, published ATT documentation.
  • Hands typing on a laptop showing stock charts, with a smartphone displaying trading data nearbyPhoto: Alesia Kozik / Pexels

    The Numbers · piece 5

    Where the Estimates Come From

    A transparent account of what Sensor Tower, Appfigures, and data.ai sell, how their estimates are constructed, who commissions the reports journalists cite, and where their methodologies diverge.

    Makes the attribution chain visible that most coverage leaves implicit.
  • Global map dashboard showing red case density clusters with country rankings listed alongsidePhoto: Atypeek Dgn / Pexels

    The Numbers · piece 6

    The ARPU Gap

    Average revenue per user by market — US, Japan, Western Europe, Southeast Asia, India — and why the disparity matters for how platforms price commissions and how regulators in each jurisdiction frame their case.

    Sources: Sensor Tower and Appfigures market reports, attributed and dated.