Apple increases Mac and iOS Developer Program annual pricing by £19/€19 in a couple of EU countries, now £79 in UK and €99 in Germany
Apple increases iOS and Mac Developer Program pricing in EU countries to £79/€99 — Apple has quietly increased the cost …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's developer-fee bump lands in the same week the company lifted the minimum App Store price to £0.79 in the UK and €0.99 across the EU, part of an early-January 2015 sweep that pushed regional prices upward together. Months later Apple folded iOS, OS X, and watchOS access into one consolidated $99/year developer program, so the £79/€99 EU figures are the local expression of a single global fee that keeps being reset.
First-order effects
- UK-based iOS and Mac developers see their annual membership jump roughly a third from £60 to £79, with German developers moving from €80 to €99 — a direct cost increase for anyone shipping apps in either market.
- Developers holding both Mac and iOS memberships face the increase twice, making the combined cost of maintaining two program enrollments noticeably heavier.
Second-order effects
- Independent developers are likely to fold the higher fixed fee into their app pricing, following Apple's own lead in raising floor prices in the same territories — the same dynamic behind the ~25% app and IAP increases in three regions in 2017.
- Apple's precedent of sweeping regional repricings continued with the euro-zone App Store and IAP price increase announced in 2022, signaling that EU-facing developers should treat local pricing as adjustable rather than stable.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Apple consistently passes currency and tax movement through to its developer base instead of absorbing it — meaning EU developers carry ongoing foreign-exchange exposure on a nominally flat $99-equivalent fee.
- Repeated regional resets push the App Store toward a model where list prices are periodically re-denominated platform-wide, normalizing mid-cycle price changes for both sellers and buyers.
The trend: Apple treats regional pricing as a pass-through mechanism, repriceing developer fees and store floors whenever currency or tax conditions shift.